Reel Life: Take Two
by Mizuki Ichigo
Summary: In Hollywood, there are always 'Happily Ever Afters', but will there be a Happy Ending for the popular actor Vincent Valentine and the Shinra Entertainment PR Tifa Lockhart? Sequel to Reel Life. Rated M for a reason.
1. Contract

_Hello, I'm back! It certainly has been a while. ^^; This time I come bringing a sequel to my fic Reel Life, Reel Life: Take Two, this will be a first for me (sequel-wise I mean), hopefully it will turn out okay._

_Note: This fic will make a **LOT** more sense if you read Reel Life first ^^;  
_

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

"And that's a wrap! Thank you everyone for your hard work!"

"Vincent!"

Turning around at the call of his name Vincent Valentine, stopped and waited for Yuffie Kisaragi to run over to where he was in the studio. Today, Vincent was fulfilling a promise to Yuffie to be in one of her music videos as they agreed upon when she made a surprise appearance at Zack and Aerith's wedding.

"Hey, Vincent, thanks." said Yuffie with an impish grin

"Your welcome." Vincent then continued walking towards the dressing room, followed by Yuffie as she ran after him. She caught up to him and continued the one-sided conversation on her own, "Anyways, since you're here and what not. I was wondering if-

"Yuffie…"

"Yes?!"

"This is the first and last time I do this." Vincent then closed the door to his private dressing room leaving Yuffie standing in her costume with her mouth open. Indignant that he just closed the door in her face, Yuffie began banging on the door, "Hey, Vinny! I was only asking if you wanted to-

Suddenly the door to his dressing room opened and Yuffie paused in mid-rant, "The name is Vincent and the answer is still no."

"What is this 'no' for, if I may ask?"

The two of them turned to the voice, as a woman with a blond bob cut walked towards them with her arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.

"Lauren…what are you doing here?" said Vincent as he stepped out of the dressing room.

Lifting up a hand, Lauren then ticked off her list, "Hmm, let me see: you did not tell me that you were filming today, I tried calling you for the last hour, Seph and Reno had no idea where you ran off to, and when I do find you, YOU CUT YOUR HAIR!" Lauren then stomped over to a calm Vincent and pushed him back into his dressing room and slammed the door closed.

Yuffie then chuckled and skipped off to her dressing room, "You're in big trouble now, Vinny."

* * *

"VINCENT HOW COULD YOU CUT YOUR HAIR?!"

"Calm down-

"DON'T YOU EVEN FINISH THAT, YOUR HAIR IS PART OF YOUR IMAGE! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU DIDN'T EVEN LET ME KNOW THAT YOU WERE GOING TO CUT IT."

Vincent then ignored his agent's screaming and removed the white gloves off of his hands and began starting on his tie. Ever since the first time he met her, he found that if he let her rant, she would be able to calm down on her own.

"Why?!" wailed Lauren as she finally noticed that he wasn't paying her any attention and paused, "Vincent…why are you dressed like a Victorian butler?"

Audibly sighing, Vincent then removed his tie, "What I do with my hair is my decision, for this music video it required me to have shorter hair-

"What were you filming?"

Glaring at his agent for interrupting him, he then continued with his explanation, "I was asked by Yuffie to be the butler Sebastian Michaelis, while she played Ciel Phantomhive for her song 'Contract'. The song will be used in the live action movie-

Stopping his explanation, when he noticed that she had her face in her hands, he then placed a hand on Lauren's shoulder and was about to ask her what was wrong, when she suddenly stood up and gave him a panicked look.

"I was so rude to Yuffie!" She then ran out of his dressing room to immediately apologize to Yuffie for both of their actions.

Despite how scatterbrained his agent and manager could be at times, he knew how reliable she was and that she was able to get things done properly, he then sighed at her retreating form. Glancing at the clock, Vincent audibly swore, and quickly locked the door to his dressing room.

* * *

Five minutes later, he came out of the dressing room wearing a simple white dress shirt and dress pants. Checking around to make sure no one would stop him, he then walked down the hallway past the editing room and was about to turn around the corner when he caught a glimpse of Yuffie and Lauren coming out of Yuffie's dressing room. He then silently swore and quickly hid himself.

Unbeknownst to the press, the punk rock princess Yuffie Kisaragi was notorious for being persistent or in Vincent's opinion, annoying to the point where you can not say no to her. He then carefully listened to their conversation and waited until he heard Lauren's footsteps fading away towards the exit, and Yuffie closing the door to her dressing room.

Taking a quick peek around the corner, Vincent swiftly and silently walked passed Yuffie's dressing room, praying that she wouldn't suddenly open the door and see him.

He just made it past her door when he heard the sound of a door opening behind him, subtlety he picked up his pace, when he heard Yuffie's voice call out to him, "Hey! Vincent?"

He then ignored her and continued towards the elevator.

"Hey! Vincent, it's you isn't it? Wait up for me!"

Hearing her footsteps behind him, he quickly decided that he had to do something to keep her from catching up to him. So, he then stopped, without looking back at her, he answered her with an English accent, "Miss, my name is not Vincent, I am Nigel."

"Oh, sorry about that."

Thankful that she didn't persist in asking him questions or followed him, he then reached the elevators and pressed the down button. Pulling out his phone, the glanced at the display time and groaned, he was going to be late in meeting up with Tifa.

Stepping into the elevator as he called Tifa, and pressing the parking space floor, he then heard Yuffie's voice, call out.

"Wait a minute there's no one named Nigel here!"

Just as the doors to the elevator were about to close, he glanced up and saw Yuffie running towards him and yelling his name. She was about a meter away to reach the elevator when Vincent gave her a smirk and wave, and the doors of the elevator cut off her frustrated yell of his name.

* * *

_Haha, yup Yuffie will always be Yuffie... _

_The characters, Sebastian Michaelis and Ciel Phantomhive belong to Yana Toboso's Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) and Square Enix, I take no credit for these characters, but seriously wouldn't Vincent make a really hot Sebastian?  
_

_SO, what do you think?  
_


	2. Payback plus Interest?

_And now I shall up the ante.... _WARNING_ there are adult situations here, I've already warned you in the fic summary, so don't say I didn't warn you. This is the **reason** why this fic is rated M  
_

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

"Shit, only an hour to get ready."

Rushing out of the elevator and quickly striding towards his penthouse door, Vincent pulled out his keys and was about to unlock the door, when it opened abruptly. Stopping in his tracks, Vincent blinked as he focused on the beautiful woman leaning against the door frame with only his black satin bathrobe on.

Jabbing a finger at him, the woman frowned, "You are late."

Realizing that he was just standing there and staring at her, he then smirked. Before the woman could protest, he had her in his arms and was kissing her passionately. Pulling away from her so he could see her reaction, he grinned at her flushed face, "And I missed you too Tifa."

Slapping his shoulder with mild annoyance, Tifa Lockhart's frown changed to a smirk. "Since you are late, there is a penalty."

He then stared at her in confusion, and then he noticed one of his black ties was in her hands, before he could slip away from her, she had tied his tie around his eyes, blindfolding him. He was about to reach up to take the 'blindfold' off when, he was suddenly pulled in one direction and he felt her breath on his ear, as she whispered: "Be good and I'll take it off for you…."

* * *

Staring down at him, Tifa smirked as she watched him struggle with the silk scarves she used to tie his hands to the bedposts.

"Tifa what are you doing?" said Vincent as he continued to struggle.

Ignoring his question, she then took off the satin bathrobe and let it drop to the floor. Licking her lips, she crawled onto the bed making sure that the valley between her breasts brushed against his member. Reaching up towards his face she finally removed the blindfold and tossed it aside.

Adjusting to the change of light, Vincent blinked and looked up at his wrists, seeing them tied to the bedposts; he then felt her eyes on him. Slowly turning to face her, he then calmed himself down, trying to avoid staring at her gorgeous naked form, Vincent nervously swallowed, "Tifa, we're going to be-

"Shh…Vincent, I never forgave you for that time in my car, this is payback in _full_ with _interest_." said Tifa seductively as she brushed her nipples along his clothed chest as she made her way up to his face.

Thinking back to that night when they first officially kissed as a couple, Vincent recalled that night with fond memories, teasing her and leading her on to just suddenly stop and get out of her car leaving her sexually frustrated.

Now at this moment, Vincent was clearly regretting his actions that night, as tonight of all nights that Tifa could have chosen to do this, tonight was a huge party that they both were invited to, to kick off the two year reunion of the band SOLDIER.

"Ti- uh!" Gasping in surprise as Tifa simultaneously kissed his lips and messaged his member; Vincent growled and tired to reign in his raging hormones.

Ordinarily, Vincent would have just declined the offer to attend since; he personally knew all the band members and the band would have had a small party on a different day, before the huge media infused party. But this party was particularly special as Sephiroth; the very same Sephiroth Crescent who is a world famous lawyer now, has decided to pass on his position as lead guitarist to Cloud Strife….

Pulling open his dress shirt, Tifa slid her hands up his chest and then laved each of his nipples, turning them erect and flushed. Grinning at his pained expression as he tried to resist, she then unbuckled his belt and slid his dress pants and boxers off.

Growling, Vincent finally gave in the need to just play along with her and wriggled out his pants and brought his legs up, so that his throbbing member touched the smooth skin of her lower back. He then growled in annoyance as she didn't move from her position on his stomach, he could feel the luscious heat from her core and tried to sit up to reach out his arms to kiss her again but was pulled back from the scarves. Smirking, Tifa slid down so that her wet core brushed against the tip of his member; teasing him, she then slid further down and then licked the head of his erect member. Feeling him buck up, she then gave in to her own carnal desires and slowly lowered herself onto him, pleased with the hiss of delight Vincent gave her as she lowered herself inch by torturous inch.

Watching her as she began fondling her breasts and rocking against him, he groaned with each stroke she took, feeling her move her position ever so slightly, and letting him feel how exceedingly tight she was. Seeing her pleasuring herself with his body, made him even harder and nearing the point of losing control and just wanting to pound into her, hearing her scream his name in ecstasy. She then picked up pace, riding him harder, and voicing her pleasure with each stroke bringing her closer to her pinnacle. Each of her breathy moans wore down his resolve, when suddenly he tore the scarves that bound his hands, and in a swift motion had her arms pinned above her head as he drove deeper into her. Wrapping her legs around his waist she moaned and writhed under him, forgetting that this was supposed to be revenge for the teasing he put her through, Tifa urged him on, "Faster!"

"No." said Vincent as he suddenly stopped and watched her buck her hips and growled in frustration when he didn't move, "_Payback_…hmm…I don't think so." and he then started to move torturously slow, "You've been a naughty girl, tricking me and tying me to the bed to do as you please, now its my turn for payback."

Pulling out of her, he then plunged back in, sucking and biting her already pert nipples. Taking his time to bring her back up to her pinnacle, she then groaned and bucked up but still to no avail of him picking up the pace, she then whispered a breathy moan, "Vincent….please…"

Smirking, Vincent then pulled out of her again and thrusted back in picking up the pace, "So tight…so beautiful…" he then held both of her wrists in one of his hands and just when he was about to thrust back into her he pushed two fingers into her. Each little stroke his fingers made, released a moan of ecstasy from her. He then pulled his fingers out and plunged his member back into her as he licked his fingers and kissed her. Tasting herself on his lips, Tifa finally couldn't take this wondrous torture, and she gave in to begging him, "Vincent, Fuck me!"

Finally hearing her completely give in, he then thrusted deeply into her and began hammering into her, each time bringing them closer to their climax. Unexpectedly pausing, Vincent picked up Tifa and carried her over to the bathroom with him still sheaved in her, seating her on top of him so that she faced the mirror; he then picked up where he left off. The cool countertop they were seated on quickly heated up from the heat they were generating, he then growled as she sucked on his collarbone, and he grasped her hips and plunged deeper into her. He then began directing her as she bobbed up and down on him, her ample breasts bobbing along with her breathy moans and mews of pleasure. Throwing her head back as her climax came rushing up; Vincent brought her head back forward and growled in her ear: "Watch yourself come." Thrusting into her, she then screamed out his name in her release, followed by Vincent as he released himself into her and growled out her name. Holding her for a few seconds as she calmed down from her release, he then carried her to the bed and placed her there rest.

Picking up his discarded bathrobe and tie that Tifa thrown earlier, he put on the robe and glanced at Tifa and chuckled as he noticed that she was fast asleep, "We're going to be late for sure now."

* * *

_...Yeah.... Honestly this was supposed to be the first chapter, but then I thought it might be a bit much...well what do you think? _


	3. SOLDIER

_Music is an integral part of this fic._

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

Bracing himself for the chaos that they were going to enter, Vincent glanced at Tifa who looked amazing in her sexy one-shoulder Chanel dress and her hair pulled up into an elegant French twist. "Tifa, when we get there-

"I know, don't worry. Remember I know how this works." said Tifa with a smile as she adjusted his jacket collar.

The two of them were on their way from Vincent's penthouse to the SOLDIER reunion party in a sleek black hybrid Lexus provided by Shinra Records; an affiliate company to Shinra Entertainment. Watching as the crowd of photographers and other members of the media and several fans came into view as they approached The Shinra Theatre, Vincent took a deep breath. Clasping her hand in reassurance, when the door of the car opened, he then stepped out of the car, and blinked as several flashbulbs went off as with several fan screams. Turning around he then extended out a hand for Tifa to take. Helping her out of the car, he then noticed Rude coming down the black velvet carpeted steps towards them, as they made their way up.

"Vincent! Vincent! Who are you wearing tonight?"

Smiling towards the cameras with Tifa on his arm, he then gave then a curt answer, "Roen."

"Who is that with you? What is your relationship with her?"

"Miss! What is your name?"

"Were you the one that was at Starbucks with Vincent?"

Ignoring the other urgent questions, Vincent continued up the steps and nodded at Rude, who began to help keep the press from crushing the two of them. Making his way past several reporters and paparazzi, he pulled Tifa along with him up the steps and into the lively theatre lobby.

* * *

"Tifa! Vincent! You guys are late! Whoa Vince nice cut!" said Zack Fair as he made his way over to the two of them with a huge grin on his face.

Smiling at him, Tifa gave him a hug, "Zack, how was your honeymoon? And where is Mrs. Fair?"

"I'm here." said a cheerful Aerith as she stood next to Zack in a classy blush colored dress. "Tifa, why are you so late?"

Suddenly blushing, as she recalled what she did with Vincent an hour ago, Tifa glanced at him, who smirked wickedly back at her. Giving him a frown, she then glared at him, "Vincent was late in getting ready…so how was your honeymoon?"

Smiling at Tifa and Vincent, Aerith glanced at a grinning Zack who wrapped his arms around her waist, as she said, "Oh it was lovely, Italy and France was just amazing-

"Yo, Vince! Nice cut!"

Hearing that familiar voice of a particular red-head, the four of them turned just as he made his way past the other invitees of the band reunion. Reaching their group, he then paused in front of Tifa, and whistled in approval, "Lookin' hotter than usual tonight, Tifa."

Laughing brightly, Tifa gave Reno a hug and smiled as she assessed Reno's suit and tie, "I see you cleaned yourself up tonight."

"Hey! I'm always this clean babe." said Reno with a flirtatious wink at her.

"Sure you are…so where is Sephiroth?" Asked Vincent as he glanced around the lobby for his other best friend.

"Oh, he's warming up or getting changed. I should go too." Zack then kissed Aerith and waved at the rest of them as he ran off towards the backstage doors.

"So, shall I show you to your reserved area?" said Aerith as she waved a hand towards the main theatre doors.

"Wait, where is Elena? She's not working today is she?" Tifa then scanned the faces of the security personnel that were standing in various locations around the theatre. Noticing a blond haired woman and a dark haired man walking towards them, Tifa smiled as she came over to meet the two.

"Elena, Tseng."

"Tifa, why are you so late?" asked Elena with a raised eyebrow.

Tifa then blushed and glanced at Vincent who as currently chatting with Reno, "I- Vincent got home late…"

Elena's smile grew into a full out smirk as she tried to cover her laughter at Tifa's bashfulness, "Right…while you were busy with Vincent, Cloud wanted me to give you this." She then handed Tifa a single white rose.

Looking confusedly at the rose, Tifa took the rose and held on to it, when Tseng then suddenly cleared his throat and pointed out to Tifa that the rose was to be put into her hair.

"Ah, thank you?" She then slipped the rose into her hair and was about to go back towards where Vincent and company were chatting when Tseng then added, "The theme for SOLDIER's new single is change, I assume Cloud wanted to celebrate that theme with the rose being white, representing a blank slate."

"Oh, thank you for clarifying, Tseng."

Tseng then nodded and strolled over to Vincent, leaving Tifa and an awed Elena to further chat before the announcement.

Amazed that Tseng analyzed Cloud's intention this detailed, Tifa smiled at Elena who was, beaming at Tseng's retreating form.

"Wow, who knew that he was that deep." remarked Tifa with a smile to Elena

"Yeah…" sighed Elena who then snapped out of her daydreaming and turned to Tifa with a wicked grin, "Spill it, I want to know _all_ the juicy details."

"What are you talking about?!" said a startled and blushing Tifa

"Hello there Elena, how are you?" said Vincent with a smile as he came up from behind Tifa and wrapped his arm around her waist.

Glad that Vincent came over in time to prevent Elena's questioning, Tifa gratefully squeezed Vincent's hand in appreciation, and watched Elena suppress a grumble and politely answered Vincent's question.

"I'm good; I see you got your hair cut. It looks good on you."

"Thank you-

Suddenly without warning, all the lights in the lobby turned off and a male voice then announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, do not be alarmed, please follow those with candles." Just after the announcement, the glow of candles then appeared along the sides of the lobby. Holding onto Tifa as they made their way forward into the theatre, Vincent followed after Aerith's ethereal candlelit form as they approached a sectioned off area reserved for them.

Once everyone was settled, the sound of a lone guitar was heard; its mournful melody resonated throughout the theatre, when suddenly the stage light shone on the guitarist, throwing his face in a shadow. The guitarist then lifted his head, revealing himself to be Sephiroth Crescent; his long silver hair tied back and dressed in a white dress shirt underneath a black military suit jacket that had a charcoal splatter print on the front with a pair of distressed jeans. A double wallet chain hung on his right side, and a single white rose was placed on his jacket lapel, giving him a laid back rock star look. He then began playing a powerful upbeat rhythm, which was then backed up by Angeal Hewley on the drums and Zack Fair on the bass guitar, the whole stage slowly lit up as each member of the band picked up the song. The crowd grew wild once each member appeared and smoke then appeared in the middle of the stage, masking the entrance of the lead singer, Genesis Rhapsodos.

Stepping out of the smoke, in his military themed suit, as if he appeared by magic, Genesis then picked up the microphone and yelled, "We are SOLDIER!"

* * *

_Note: Roen is an actual brand of men's clothing, based in Japan, Tetsuya Nomura has worked with them to design the suit that one of the main characters (Noctis Lucis Caelum) in the soon to come out in winter 2009 game Final Fantasy Versus XIII wears. They actually have really great collections on their website. Check it out (shameless plug I know.)_

_As for the type of music/style of the band "SOLDIER" I had a J-rock sound for them somewhat sounding like The GazettE with a mix with Linkin Park or something along those lines.  
_

_Thanks for reading.  
_


	4. Woman in Red

_Hi, I'm back! Hopefully I'm back for a long while this time. _

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

Blown away by Cloud's performance just 45 minutes ago, Tifa made her way past several reunion party guests and grinned at Cloud who then gave her a shy smile from within a throng of reporters and supporters. Cloud then managed to quickly to move away from the group when Zack pushed a reluctant Sephiroth into the crowd …

"That was amazing Cloud!" said Tifa as she gave him a warm encouraging smile.

Watching as Cloud gave her a goofy grin, he then scratched his neck embarrassedly and mumbled out a 'thanks', clearing his throat, he then changed the subject:

"So, how are you and Vincent doing?"

Giving him a confused sort of look, Tifa then answered, "We're doing great; we still have to go in for photos, for the promotional posters of the movie that we just wrapped up."

"Oh, that's great…."

"Cloud…? Is there something you want to ask me?" said a worried Tifa

She then noticed that he hesitated, and instead of replying he surprisingly hugged her tightly and quickly released her.

"Sorry…I…just…never mind." said Cloud and before Tifa could respond, he quickly disappeared into the crowd of party guests.

* * *

Standing near the bar, the red headed woman knew that she was attracting the attention of many party goers, especially the male attendees. Dressed to kill in a nearly sheer fire engine red backless gown, that left no room for imagination, she scanned the room for her next victim. Seeing Vincent slip an arm around Tifa's waist and chatting amiably with Sephiroth and Reno, she then narrowed her eyes and smirked, she had finally chosen her 'prey'.

She then turned to the bartender who was clearly checking her out, and gave him a seductive smile, "A cherry vodka, darling."

Seeing the bar keep's eyes glaze over, she immediately knew that she had completely charmed the man, as he then replied with pushing the drink towards her and saying that it was on the house. Picking up the drink she strolled over to the other end of the bar so as to be within the range of Reno's view.

* * *

"What made you decide to leave?" said Tifa as she leaned against Vincent's shoulder when he placed his arm around her waist.

"Hmm, honestly…being a lawyer is more profitable than being a guitarist." said Sephiroth with glance a Reno who stood shocked at his confession.

"What the hell?! You mean you only did it for the money?!"

"Re-

"Dammit Seph, there's more to being a rock star, than just money! There's the chicks, the booze and the-

"Reno, not everyone here is obsessed with getting their rocks off."

Reno then smirked, "I was going to say the music, but hey if you always think perverted thoughts- WHOA! Shit, who is she?"

Before any of them could stop Reno, he had already started walking towards the bar, heading straight for the sexy figure standing there giving him an alluring smile.

* * *

The woman in red knowingly smiled at Reno as he stumbled his way over towards her. She never thought that it would so easy to get him, but she knew this was only the first step.

"All alone?" said Reno as he causally leaned against the bar next to her.

"Hmm, not anymore now." she said while giving him a sultry look.

Reno then grinned, shifted his weight from one foot to another and turned to the bartender, "Mai Tai for me and…" He then turned to the woman questioningly as he glanced between her empty glass and her face and back.

"How sweet, darling. Cherry Vodka." said the woman with a smile towards Reno who smirked and grinned at the bartender.

* * *

The moment Reno left them; Vincent chuckled, and said "He's still as troublesome as usual."

"Of course." said Sephiroth solemnly, "Though in this case, he might be in over his head with this woman. She looks like trouble."

"Though she is rather attractive…" added Tifa who then got looks of disbelief from both Vincent and Sephiroth. "Well, she is…I suppose if you go for her type."

Sephiroth then smirked, "Are you implying that either one of us would go after her if Reno didn't?"

"What?! No, well unless you would…but it's not like I'm-

"Hey quit harassing Tifa." Said Vincent with a glare at Sephiroth, "And besides the fact I've got you, Tifa so I don't need to go chasing after anyone else." He then gave her squeeze with his arm around her waist and smiled down at her.

The three of them watched as Reno chatted up the woman in red, then place an arm around her waist and watched as she giggled and caressed the arm that held her.

"Wow, he's fast…" commented Tifa

"That's Reno for you." said Vincent and Sephiroth at the same time, which caused Tifa to smile.

As Tifa watched Reno and his partner head towards them, she felt a sudden shiver at the smile the woman in red gave as they came to a stop in front of them.

Reno then made the introductions starting with Sephiroth and ending at Vincent, he was then about to introduce his date when she suddenly stepped forward and said in a sultry voice with a slight Russian accent, "Rosso, Rosso Crimson…it is a pleasure to meet you."

* * *

_I guess this fic isn't as popular as Reel Life...I'll probably try and keep writing this but I'm leaning towards scrapping it..._

_Please review, I need to make a final decision as to whether to put this on my discontinued section or not...thanks.  
_


	5. Doubt & Trust

_**Announcement:** I've decided to see how far I can take this fic...so, in order for me to pace it properly, this fic will be updated on a monthly basis, depending on reviews (good or bad is welcomed) and my mood, I **may** update sooner._

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!  
_

* * *

"_It's been a month now. Is everything in place?"_

"_Almost, are you really alright with me casting__ the woman? She does have the talent…"_

"_Do it, for the last time, you casting her works in my favor and make it fast…I'm tired of being around this lazy asshole."_

Rosso then pocketed her blackberry into the white bathrobe that she wore and returned to bedroom. Glaring at the sleeping form of Reno on the bed, she then relaxed her expression, striped off her robe and slipped under the sheets next to Reno who then blinked open his eyes and pulled her towards him kissing her neck, "Hmm, where were you?"

"Ah, I had to make a phone call, darling." said Rosso with a smile.

"Nothin' too…hmm…serious I…hope?" mumbled Reno as fell asleep again.

"Important, but things are going as scheduled." whispered Rosso with a dark smile on her face.

* * *

Vincent watched as Tifa slowly opened her eyes to the sunlight shining through the balcony windows. He then chuckled as he watched her quickly shut her eyes and hide under the covers.

"Vincent! How long have you been watching me?!" said a muffled Tifa

Vincent then got up from his chair and sat on the bed pulling the covers away from Tifa's face, "Good morning, Beautiful."

Again Tifa hid further into the sheets as much as she could, "Vincent, how many times have I told you already, it's really embarrassing when you watch me sleep or wake up."

Shaking his head and signing, Vincent then stood up and completely pulled the sheets off of Tifa and the bed with one swift movement. He then immediately followed his attack by capturing her lips before she could complain or further hide her naked self. Pulling away before things escalated to more pleasurable activities, Vincent brushed Tifa's bangs back and smiled, "I could never stop watching you. Now, it's time for you to go to work-

"But-

"Why yes, you certainly do have a rather fetching rear, if I do say so myself, but as it is almost 9:00am-

"What!? It's almost 9:00!?"

Tifa then quickly slipped out of Vincent's loose embrace and made a beeline to the shower forgetting to bring a towel with her.

Vincent waited seven minutes once he heard the sound of water, before he stood up and grabbed a clean white towel when-

"Damnit! Vincent! Can you bring me my towel please?"

Chuckling again, he made his way over to his bathroom, and opened up the towel expectantly waiting for Tifa to step out of the shower. "Since you were kind enough to say 'please' here is your towel."

Tifa poked her head out from behind the glass shower door and frowned at Vincent as he stood there smirking with the towel open in front of him.

Still smirking, Vincent then raised a slender eyebrow, "I wonder how you will explain this to Tseng when you get in…"

Pursing her lips in the most adorable way, Tifa stepped out of the shower, just as Vincent slipped his hands under her arms and rapped the towel around her kissing her softly on a sensitive area on her neck. Tifa slightly leaned into his kiss and glared at him when he raised his head, "Don't think you can do this all the time, you hear me." She then stepped away from an innocent looking Vincent and headed out the bathroom towards the vanity table in the walk in closet they shared.

Vincent then smirked and slowly made his way back to the bedroom, and leaned against one side of the closet door frame. Watching Tifa tie up her hair in a loose bun, Vincent stayed silent for as long as he could.

"What is so funny?" glared Tifa's reflection at Vincent's slight grin, as she fixed her earrings.

Giving her another innocent smile, Vincent shook his head, "Nothing, just mesmerized by you that's all."

Rolling her eyes, Tifa glanced at Vincent's reflection again, she knew that something was up but at the moment she couldn't figure out what was causing Vincent's strange behaviour this morning. Vincent was already dressed and awake but that didn't answer why he was acting so different, since she knew he would be up earlier than her for a meeting he had to go to with a new director….Satisfied with her makeup, Tifa glanced at the reflection of the bedside clock and calendar…

Suppressing her anger, Tifa stood up, walked to Vincent and smiled, "Tell me, today is Saturday isn't it?"

Finally giving in, Vincent burst out laughing and blocked some of the rather forceful slaps that he was receiving. He then sobered up and immediately swept Tifa into his arms, carrying her over to the bed and throwing her onto it. Climbing on top of her, trapping her in his embrace, he caressed her rather red face, and licked his lips as he felt her pulse increase.

"That was just…I feel like such an idiot now." said Tifa as she glanced up at Vincent and was shocked to find him looking at her with such predatory eyes. "No! After what you just did to me, no se-

Vincent quickly kissed her deeply, changing her objections to rather intimate moans and mews.

* * *

"I'm coming, hold on, jeez." said Cloud as he made his way past Marlene and Denzel towards the door.

Opening the door, Cloud was then greeted with a six pack of Heineken beer tossed at him and a slap on the back from Zack, who just waltzed right into the apartment.

"Marlene! Denzel! How ya two doing?"

"Uncle Zack!"

"Hey, Zack." said Denzel with a grin and a high five to Zack who held Marlene in one arm.

Rolling his eyes, Cloud closed the door and headed towards the kitchen to stick the beer into the fridge. He then stepped back into the sitting area, and leaned against the wall watching Zack help out Marlene with the drums, while Denzel played on the guitar in a round of Rock Band. "So, Zack what is so urgent that you had to ring the doorbell repeatedly?"

Zack then grinned and gave Marlene the other drum stick, "We need a name for our album."

Cloud then frowned, "I thought Genesis was handling that?"

Standing up from his squat, Zack sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "See the thing is he's been a bit…off, like we can never find him around anymore. But that's not why I came over…"

"Oh really, then why did you come over Zack?" Cloud then turned and headed to the kitchen, knowing that Zack would follow.

Watching him closely, Cloud then noticed Zack visibly turned more serious. He then took a seat at the table, and sighed, "Zack, seriously I'm fine."

"Cloud, hey don't kid yourself. It's been what- Three, four months since she moved in with Vince?"

"Six."

Giving Cloud a rather alarmed look, Zack then took a seat, "Hey, you're cool with that right?"

Cloud then nodded, "It's just…I guess I'm not used to it that's all."

Zack then got up from his seat and opened the fridge, "Hey! You actually have food in here!"

Popping his head out of the fridge, Zack then gave a cheeky grin at Cloud's glare, "I'm just saying…before when you first moved in here, you hardly knew the difference between a lime and a key lime."

Taking out a chilled bottle of the Heineken that he brought, Zack sat back down and waited patiently for Cloud to say what was on his mind.

"I miss her…."

* * *

_I love Zack, he's just so fun to write!_

_ I can't wait till Final Fantasy XIII comes out! Lightning, Snow, Hope, Serrah.... the newest trailer is just epic!_

_Thanks for Reading. Oh, and no, I did not take the chapter title from access's song, Doubt & Trust, though it is a pretty good song._ :D


	6. Surprise Visitor

_Disclaimer on my profile, Enjoy!_

* * *

"_LOVELE__SS, that's what we're calling our new album."_

"_Hmm, it's not bad actually. I can't wait to hear it. Did you come up with the name?"_

"_Sort of, Genesis in the end came up with it…Lazard-Lazard Deusericus, our manager-was pretty happy that we finally decided with a name. Half the time he was searching for Genesis who disappeared for a bit."_

"_Hahaha, that's just funny. Hey, Cloud why don't you- oh hold on…"_

Cloud then waited a bit till he heard Tifa's voice back on the phone.

"_Hey, I'm back."_

"_Hey, everything okay over there?"_

"_Yup, um…Cloud…I'm sorry, I gotta go. Vincent says hello too, I love ya, and I'll talk to you later okay? Bye!"_

Before Cloud could reply, Tifa had already hung up on him.

* * *

"Hello, welcome to Shinra Entertainment, my name is Aerith, how may I help you?" said Aerith with a kindly smile to the man in Prada shades.

"I'm looking for a Tifa Lockhart, I was told that she works here as a PR?"

"Yes, she does work here, do you have an appointment? Mister…?"

"Sable, Nero Sable."

Aerith's eyes widened when she heard him speak his name; she then calmly picked up the phone and called Tifa.

"_Hello, Tifa Lockhart."_

"_Tifa, I've got Mr. Nero Sable here who wants to see you."_

"_Aerith, I don't have the time to be playing your games right-_

"_No, it's not a joke; he seriously wants to see you in person."_

"The _Nero Sable as in the famous director?"_

"_Yes, it's really him; he's standing right in front of me."_

"_Alright, let him up."_

Aerith then hung up and smiled at Nero, who stood waiting patiently for Aerith to show him the way. "I'm sorry about the confusion-

"No, it's not a problem. I came here without any notice." said Nero with a warm smile.

* * *

Tifa looked up from her work at the knock on her door, to see a man dressed in tailored black Dolce and Gabbana suit with a simple dark plum tie and Prada shades standing next to Aerith, who gave her a small smile. She then stood up from her desk and walked over to them.

"Come on in, Mr. Sable. Thank you Aerith." said Tifa with a friendly nod of thanks to Aerith who left her office the moment she stood in front of Nero. Tifa then closed her door and took a seat behind her desk.

Waiting patiently for Nero to finish observing her rather cluttered desk, Tifa gave him a rather strained smile, "I'm sorry about the mess, things are getting a bit hectic with the Holiday movies wrapping up. What can I do for you Mr. Sable?"

Nero then removed his shades and tucked them into an inner pocket of his jacket and looked her in the eyes, "I have a proposition for you."

Tifa gave an inaudible gasp as she looked at Nero without his shades, the uncanny resemblance the man in front of her had to Vincent was eerie. The rather reclusive director, Nero Sable was known for always wearing sunglasses wherever he went. The rumor of the media was that because of his resemblance to the actor Vincent Valentine, the director would wear sunglasses so as to not be mistaken for the actor.

Shaking her head slightly, Tifa straightened up in her seat, "please continue."

Nero then leaned back into the chair he was sitting in, propped his elbows onto the arm rests of his chair and clasped his hands together as if considering if he should continue. "I'd like for you to be in my next film."

"Sorry? But, I'm not an actress." said a disbelieving Tifa

"I've seen you filming with Mr. Valentine; I believe that you are perfect for my next project. I have also spoken to Mr. Valentine's agent about this role and I will be receiving confirmation this afternoon."

"Wait, you mean Vincent Valentine is going to be in this new project of yours?"

"Yes, and I would like you to play his opposite."

"Whoa, hold on there, that was only a one time thing-

"Please, Ms. Lockhart, the chemistry between the two of you is perfect for this project. I believe that the relationship that you have with Mr. Valentine is _vital_ for my film."

"I'm flattered that you think that highly of me but- Sorry? How did you-

Nero then smiled at her and leaned forward, "The moment I saw you interact with him on set, it was very obvious that the two of you were together."

Flustered, Tifa then leaned back on her chair, "But, why me? I mean it's not like I'm that good as an actress and I'm certainly not going to make it my career-

Nero then leaned in closer towards her, "Ms. Lockhart, to be frank, the relationship you have with Valentine was what decided my decision to choose you over the many thousands of actresses out there. I believe that you have the talent."

Tifa then sat there in her chair disbelieving that right in front of her was Nero Sable, the multi-academy award winning director, was asking her, of all people to star in his next film.

Seeing as she was silent with surprise, Nero then leaned back into his chair and took out his shades and placed them back on. "How about we have dinner over this? I have a table at The Verraten tonight at 8:00."

Still shocked at the turn of events Tifa, blinked and nodded uncertainly, "Um…alright, but I still need to think about everything you just told me."

"Of course, it's understandable." said Nero as he then stood up from his seat and shook her hand, "Alright, I shall see you later tonight, and do please call me Nero."

Again blinking in surprise, Tifa shook his hand and mumbled out a reply, "Yes…tonight…."

He then left her in her reverie, and closed her door. Making his way over to the elevators, in a quick stride, he then pressed the down button and pulled out his iphone. Dialing in a number just as the elevator doors opened, he stepped into the empty elevator and waited as his call connected.

"_Yes?"_

"_It's been done."_

"_Good, get back to me once Valentine has signed the contract." _

_Click._

Stepping out of the elevator and walking past Aerith and giving her a friendly nod, Nero Sable stepped out onto the street and sighed. Walking past the Shinra Entertainment building, Nero pressed the button on his car alarm and stepped into his black Maserati GranTurismo S. Thinking back on the surprised look on Tifa Lockhart's face, he then smirked and then tore off down the street.

* * *

_I do know what I said in my last chapter about monthly updates, and I haven't really followed through, due to school commitments (FINAL EXAMS ARE COMING!!!). I'm just about ready to prepare for graduation at my university and it doesn't help that professors insist on last minute projects. BUT as a writer, don't give up on me yet! I just hope this chapter can somehow alleviate some of the worries of my scrapping this story anytime soon. (the feeling to scrap it is still there but I'm trying my best to resist it)  
_

_ I'm still a bit iffy about this chapter after so long a hiatus, DO let me know via review what you think of this chapter._

_For more periodic updates on my writing check out my "homepage" on my profile.  
_


	7. Calm Before the Storm

_Story plug: I've written a one-shot story, Desert Rose please check it out if you have the time. Though I warn you it's a rather angsty VinTi, so I suggest reading it before this chapter ^^_

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

The man in the tailored suit gazed across the skyscraper landscape to see the blond president of Shinra Entertainment take a seat in a leather chair behind an oak desk. The man then turned away from the window and focused his attention on Nero Sable, who was seated in front of his desk.

"Brother, why do you hate Rufus Shinra so much?"

Weiss Immaculate gripped the top of his leather chair and glared at his younger brother, "You _**know**_ why."

Nero then closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, shifting his shades, "But is it necessary to do things…this way?"

Audibly sighing at his brother's remark, Weiss pulled his chair back and took a seat, "I don't care how it's done, as long as Shinra goes down, Rosso can do whatever she wants…."

* * *

"Happy Birthday Vincent!"

Blinking in surprise, Vincent glanced down at Tifa who was smiling up at him. He then turned to all the people gathered in front of him, and shook his head, sighing, "You guys didn't have to do this."

The DJ then started up the music and the bright stage lights were exchanged for the colored paper lanterns hung up around the rooftop garden of the hotel. Throughout the garden itself were placed several cloth covered tables where party attendees could refill their drinks or to get something to eat. In the middle of the garden was a pool, which was lit with floating white candles in the shape of water lilies.

Taking it all in, while Tifa put their coats aside, Vincent stood in surprise, he generally never celebrated his birthday, as he found it rather depressing to celebrate that he was a year older. But he found himself thinking that this was a nice change in pace. Suddenly without warning, someone bumped into him. He then glanced down at the familiar, nine year old grinning girl.

"Mr. Cupid!"

Vincent smiled and knelt down to be at eye level with the girl, "Miss. Marlene, how can I help you?"

"Happy Birthday!" said Marlene who then shoved a small roughly folded paper into his hand.

He then took the paper and looked at her, "For me?"

"Of course!" said Marlene proudly, "Open it now! Please!"

Vincent then picked up Marlene in one arm and held her up while he unfolded the paper to show a crayon drawn picture. The picture itself was amazing, he could tell that Marlene had the talent to draw, in it featured many people, from the fowl mouthed military pilot Cid to Marlene herself in the center. Each person was drawn in detail with smiles.

"Thank you Marlene, this is beautiful."

Giggling with delight, Marlene then hugged Vincent tightly, "I'm glad you like it! Denzel helped me with the coloring, see he colored it wrong here, that's why Cait is blue. I wanted to draw it again but Cloud said that it will be fine."

"I didn't color Cait wrong! You passed me the wrong color!" called out Denzel who came running over to the two of them at the mention of his name. The 11 year old then, stuck out a tongue at Marlene who then wriggled in Vincent's arms to get back at Denzel who then continued to taunt her.

"Hey, now you two, who would like some spaghetti?" called out Tifa from the table she was standing by.

Vincent smiled at Tifa, glad that she came back just in time to keep the two kids from fighting. He then lowered Marlene and watched as she ran after Denzel to the table.

The rest of the evening was relaxed as Vincent talked with each of the attendees. Once he managed to get a moment to himself, he then scanned the area for Tifa. When he found her, he stepped up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist and led her towards a more secluded area on the rooftop garden.

"Thank you."

Tifa then smiled mischievously, "What for?"

He then took a seat on the stone bench and raised an eyebrow and smirked, "You want to play it that way, hmm?"

She then gave him an innocent smile, and was about to pull away from him to walk over to the hibiscus bush, when he pulled her onto his lap. She then coyly turned around to face him and smiled, "Yes, Mr. Valentine?"

Before he could even continue, a familiar voice could be heard coming towards them. "Vince? Where the heck are you?"

Reno then stepped forward wearing an askew blue party hat on his head and a particularly gaudy looking party hat was in his hands, "Hey, Vince, Happy Birthday man! I got something for you."

Vincent then glared at Reno, "You even try putting that on me and I'll be throwing you into the pool."

"Hey, it's your day, but it's me who gets to make fun of you. _Old_ man!" Smirked Reno as he balanced the pointed end of the party hat on his index finger.

Narrowing his eyes at Reno, Vincent then released Tifa, and stepped towards the red head, "I hope you know that, even though it's my day, I still 'call the _shots_' here-"And then he lunged for the red head and caught the blue party hat, just as the lanky red head dodged to side and slipped the gaudy party hat onto Vincent's head.

Straightening up, Reno grinned, "Ha! Gotcha! Whoa! HOLD ON MAN!"

Reno continued to struggle as Vincent picked him up by the scruff of his shirt and hauled him towards the pool, followed by an amused Tifa.

"DUDE, STOP! I'M SORRY!"

Vincent stopped moving and glared at Reno, who gave him a strained smile.

"Though it looks good on you…."

At that comment, Vincent continued moving towards the pool, "NO, WAIT C'MON IT WAS JUST A _JOKE_!"

"Vincent, maybe you should just put him down?"

Vincent and Reno both turned around at the smooth voice of Sephiroth as the man made his way towards them.

Vincent glanced down at Reno, who gave him an innocent look, "Should I put you down?"

Nodding frantically, Reno then pleaded with his eyes, "Vince, you know I meant no harm."

"Are you sure you want me to put you down?" repeated Vincent as continued to keep eye contact with him.

"Yes! Please just put me down."

"You asked for it."

And before Reno could even ask what he meant, he immediately fell into the deep end of the pool, and came up spluttering water and yelling curses at Vincent, who was laughing with the rest of the party goers.

* * *

_Yup, there you have it. This is the first part of this chapter, the second part continues on...let me know what you think of this chapter, and I'll consider posting up the next part sooner!_

_Originally this was supposed to be posted back in October but I didn't have the time to get it done.  
_


	8. Bad Romance

_Here's part II, it continues from the last chapter._

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!  
_

* * *

"Reno darling…what are you doing?"

Staring up from the pool Reno, gasped as he took in the sight of Rosso, dressed in a red shimmering halterneck mini dress, he quickly climbed out of the pool. He then made his way towards her, but paused in mid-step when she put up a hand.

"C'mon babe, it's only a bit of water." said Reno, who then added a flirtatious wink and opened his arms to an unimpressed Rosso, who just crossed her arms.

"Reno, how about we get you dry first." said Tifa with a giggle at a wet and sheepish looking Reno.

Rosso, nodded appreciatively at Tifa, who then led Reno towards the hotel's laundry room with Marlene tagging along behind.

With the three of them out of earshot, Rosso then turned to Vincent, "Well, Birthday boy, I never did give you my gift…"

Cautiously taking a step back while taking the party hat off his head, Vincent gave her a polite smile, "Thank you but you didn't have to."

Taking a step towards him, Rosso laughed, "You're so polite, darling. Don't worry I won't bite."

Again moving away from the woman in front of him, Vincent backed into the same secluded area that he brought Tifa to, the back of his knees bumping into and causing him to fall backwards onto the stone bench. Something about Rosso; made him wary of her every word and movement, he couldn't put a word on it but it made him feel uneasy….

* * *

"Here, Reno take this towel, and- STOP! Don't strip here!" yelled Tifa who turned away and quickly covered Marlene's eyes before Reno was about to pull down his pants.

"But-

"No Buts, naked or otherwise. Go dry yourself off where I don't see anything."

"I know you want to…" Smirked Reno

Rolling her eyes at the red head, Tifa pointed to the corner where the hotel's washer and drier were, as she dropped her other hand from Marlene's eyes, "Don't make me hit you."

Reno then held up his pants and shuffled his way over to the corner, "Aww, it was only some innocent fun."

"Innocent fun, my as- oh." Glaring at the wall, where she knew Reno was behind, for almost making her swear in front of Marlene, Tifa then glanced down at the girl who cheerfully smiled back at her.

"Its okay, Tifa, Papa always says ass or shit, I'm used to it."

Audibly sighing, Tifa kneeled down at eye level with her, "Marlene, honey…it's not a good thing to be swearing. You don't want to end up speaking like Uncle Cid right?"

At the mention of Cid's rather colorful vocabulary, Marlene wrinkled her nose, "No, I don't but you should be careful too."

"I'll be careful, don't worry."

Shaking her head, Marlene looked at Tifa with such a serious face, "No, I mean that red lady is scary."

"Red lady….Do you mean Rosso?"

Silently nodding, Marlene continued, "I don't like her, she's bad-

"Marlene, you can't just judge people by how they look."

The little girl then shook her head violently, "No, she's going to do something, something really bad to you and Mr. Cupid."

"Tifa, you should really listen to her." said Reno as he stepped out from behind the wall tucking the loose end of a white towel around his waist.

Narrowing her eyes at the red head's serious expression, Tifa then stood up from kneeling, "Reno, what are you talking about? Why would you say that about your girlfriend?"

"I'm just sayin' be careful." Turning back to and facing the drier, Reno then lifted both arms and shrugged causing his white towel to fall to ground-

"RENO!"

* * *

"Now, since you're sitting down, I have a proposition for you, darling."

Rosso then reached out a hand to brush away one of Vincent's bangs when he stopped her a second before she could even touch him.

"I'd prefer you to keep your hands to yourself." openly glaring at the woman, he then released her wrist.

Stepping back from him, Rosso then looked down at him with contempt while rubbing her wrist, "Despite all that I've done, you still won't hear me out? Not even when it concerns your precious woman?"

Unsure of what Rosso had planned, Vincent stood up, "Leave Tifa out of this. Whatever you are planning-

"Ah, there my darling is where you are wrong." said Rosso as she deliberately stepped into Vincent's personal space, "She has _everything_ to do with this."

Rosso then began circling him like a vulture eyeing its prey, "Looking at your relationship with her, I'm guessing you still haven't talked to her about this." She then pulled out a glossy 8x10 photograph of him being welcomed into a large mansion by a brunette woman wearing only a large button down dress shirt.

Vincent grabbed the photo out of her hand; it was a recent photo as evident by his shorter hairstyle. Clearly the brunette woman was Lucrecia and it really was him going into her house that day. He was only there that day to help with her moving in, and yet the photograph gave a different interpretation.

He then glowered at the smirking woman in front of him, knowing that it was useless to argue about the context of the photograph. "What do you want?"

Rosso's smirk grew larger, and she circled him again, this time trailing a blood red painted nail across his back. She then paused at his ear and whispered, "Everything…."

Before he could reply, Rosso snatched the photo out of his hands and began walking away from him. He was about to chase after her when, Rosso turned around and winked at Vincent. He then noticed that she now had a stack of the photos in her hand.

"Darling, I hope you will entertain me to the very end." And Rosso threw the photos up in the air scattering them all over as she walked away.

Standing in silence with his blood boiling in anger and the photos fluttering down around him, Vincent knew that no matter what he did with the photos scattered on the floor, he would be in a compromising position. Even with that thought, he began picking up the photos and paused when a familiar hand passed him a small handful of photos.

"Tifa…."

Seeing her closed off expression, Vincent was about to grab her arm and stop her but she already dropped the photos and ran off.

* * *

_So there you have it...I've left ya'll with a bit of a dramatic cliffhanger didn't I?_

_And yes, I did name this chapter after Lady Gaga's song Bad Romance, it's a good song..."I want a bad, bad romance"  
_


	9. Misunderstandings

_Okay so after all this time, I'm finally going to update, to my faithful readers, I thank you for reading this. For those that just started reading it, welcome to the world of Reel Life. I can't promise much but I'm trying to get back to updating my fic(s) on a weekly basis, I've already got five chapters pre-written for this fic, so be prepared!_

_Enough chatter, Bring on the fic!_

_Disclaimer on my Profile, enjoy!  
_

* * *

_Knock Knock._

"Yes? Come in."

Aerith and Elena quietly entered Tifa's office and closed the door behind them. The two of them looked at each other seeing that Tifa didn't even look up from her work then they entered the office.

The silence of the room was punctuated with Tifa's pen running across the papers she was working on. Elena immediately planted herself onto the plush sofa in the corner of the room, while Aerith tentatively sat in one of the chairs in front of Tifa's desk.

"Tifa, are you sure you don't want to talk to him?" said Aerith

More pen scratching was heard in reply, as Tifa continued working and shuffling papers. Aerith turned to Elena, pleading with her eyes to break the uncomfortable silence that fell on them.

Audibly sighing, Elena noisily got up from the sofa and purposely strode up to Tifa's desk and sat in the other chair next to Aerith. "You know, have you considered that the photo could have been shopped?"

The scratching of the pen paused momentarily, and then continued.

Taking that as a sign to continue, Elena leaned back into her chair and crossed her arms, "How do you know that he wasn't just at her house to help with something like, moving in?"

"Yes, Tifa have you considered that? She could have just moved and unpacked her clothing at the time." added Aerith as she leaned eagerly towards Tifa.

Again the sudden silence in paper shuffling and pen scratching caused the two women to glance worriedly at each other again.

"Tifa-

"Enough." said Tifa as she put down her pen and glared up at her two best friends, "I know what I saw and I've told you already. The man in the photo was clearly Vincent and the woman was clearly Lucrecia."

Tifa then pushed back her chair and stood up, planting her hands on her desk and leaning forward so that she was directly in the faces of her friends, she looked them in the eye, "If they weren't having an affair, why is it, that when I found him was he trying to quickly pick up those photos?"

She then angrily sat back down in her chair and tried to prevent her angry tears from falling.

* * *

Pacing back and forth behind his desk, Vincent mulled over the last weekends events. He knew that she would react that way to the photos but he didn't know what he could say that would convince her that there was nothing between Lucrecia and himself.

Watching in concern, as the actor paced around, Sephiroth uncrossed his legs and stood up. He then walked over to the liquor table and poured three glasses of whiskey. "Reno, tell me about Rosso."

The red head gladly took the glass of whiskey offered to him and drank it in one go, "She's planning something. What it is has something to do with Vince, I'm guessing."

Sephiroth then placed a glass of whiskey near Vincent's abandoned chair. He then returned back to his chair and leisurely drank his glass. "What agency is she under?"

Reno then sat up from the sofa he was lounging on, "Uh…Deepground Entertainment. I'll ask Tseng and Rude for more info. I think there's some connection between Rufus and Deepground's Weiss."

The red head then stood up and walked over to Vincent, blocking the man's path and looked at him. "Shouldn't you be talking to Tifa right now?"

Vincent then turned around and picked up the glass of whiskey, he swirled the amber liquid around and then drank it all down. "There's nothing I can say that will convince her otherwise."

Sighing audibly Sephiroth rose from his seat and pulled out his phone; he then glanced at Vincent pacing again and rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "It's unbelievable how stubborn the two of you are."

Reno then noticed the mischievous glint in the lawyer's eyes and grinned widely.

* * *

Glancing down at her vibrating phone, Elena read the text message written there and smiled. She then looked up at Tifa, who was now forlornly staring out her office windows, and showed Aerith the text.

Smiling briefly, Aerith then carefully pressed a few numbers and the speaker phone button on Tifa's desk telephone, and stood up to clear up some of the mess on the desk.

Without warning, a male voice was suddenly heard.

"_-There is nothing I can say that she will believe. __No matter what I did, it would still end up this way."_

"What?" said Tifa as she quickly turned back to her desk and glanced at her desk phone noticing that the speaker button was lit.

She was about to pick up the handset and hang up when, Aerith grabbed her arm away.

"Hey!-

"Shhh!" said Elena as she carefully moved the phone away from Tifa.

"_If I picked up the photos she would think I had something to hide leading her to believe that I was having an affair. If I just left the photos on the ground it would be like I was blatantly telling her I was having an affair."_

"_I was going to tell her about helping Lucrecia with moving but I felt that she already had enough on her plate with the talks with Nero and stuff at Shinra Entertainment."_

"_Why didn't you stop her?"_ said a smooth calm voice.

"_Well, she ran off before I could even get a word…"_ A chuckle was then heard and the voice continued, _"She does have a habit of doing that."_

Tifa stared at her phone in surprise, it was Vincent that was speaking to Sephiroth. She was going to speak up when, Elena glared at her to keep silent.

"_Well, dude what's the point of telling us this when you have to tell her!"_

"_She wouldn't answer any of my calls or messages….I don't blame her for doing that__…After all, the whole incident with my disguise when we first got together, brought us to this situation before."_

A moment of silence was heard then, the shuffling of clothing was heard, _"Did you hear that clearly Tifa?"_

Tifa then shook off Aerith and reached for the phone just as she could hear Vincent struggling to grab the phone.

"_Vincent, is that true?"_

"_Yes. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I'd understand it if you don't trust me anymore."_

"_No, Vincent I'm really sorry that I never gave you a chance. I just thought…"_

"_It was my fault for not telling you…can you join me for dinner the day after tomorrow?"_

"_Sur-oh, I can't, I'm meeting Rosso."_

"_Rosso?__"_ Vincent's voice then suddenly turned sharp, _"as in Rosso Crimson?" _

Tifa momentarily puzzled over Vincent's sudden change in voice, and then answered, _"Of course, silly. We're going to be in Nero Sable's movie right? It only seems right that I meet her."_

"_Where are you meeting her? I'd like to__ come along."_

"_We're meeting at the Verraten at 7:00pm. I think it will be fine if you came, I'll just give her a call okay? Bye."_

Tifa then hung up and looked at both Elena and Aerith who were openly smiling at her; she then jokingly gave them a glare. "What?"

"See, you never had to doubt him. He's so into you, there's no way he'd leave you." said Elena as she walked out of the office with Aerith in tow.

* * *

"Hello?"

"_Hi, uh Rosso? It's me Tifa Lockhart." _

Hearing the other woman on her phone, Rosso sat up from her seat and shooed away the girl giving her a pedicure. "Oh Tifa, darling! How are you?"

"_I'm good, and yourself?"_

Rosso then smiled and answered, "I'm doing just fine. Is there something wrong about the dinner?"

"_Would it okay if I brought Vincent along with me?"_

Rosso then silently gritted her teeth and then calmed down, she then put on a friendly air, "The more the merrier! I'm just dying to see and _break apart_ the two of you—your acting methods."

"Alright, see you two, two days from today." Rosso then put down her phone and waved a girl over to finish her pedicure. She then leaned back and smirked, even though her first move didn't do much, she knew that she already planted a seed of doubt that would sprout soon.

* * *

_So, yeah what do you think? _

_Criticism/comments are HIGHLY appreciated, though to note, I do accept anonymous reviews/comments it's just if you ask me a question anonymously I won't be able to reply to you until the next chapter is posted up.  
_


	10. Lucifer

_Just as a warning, please DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!_

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

The calm and soothing atmosphere of the famous Verraten Restaurant did nothing to settle the red head waiting at the spectacular table overlooking the bright and thriving evening cityscape.

Sitting alone in the dimly lit restaurant, while waiting for Vincent Valentine and Tifa Lockhart to arrive, Rosso opened up her calendar on her blackberry. She knew that if everything went well tonight, Shinra Entertainment would be forced to desperate measures and cut off all ties to their liabilities.

A young woman in a flattering dark coppery-orange dress carefully took a seat across from her just as she glanced up from her blackberry. She then scowled at the woman and put down her blackberry, while picking up her glass of Pinot Noir in her other hand and took a sip.

"Rosso, the paparazzi are all seated within view, also more are on their way and will be waiting at the back door."

Rosso eyed the girl with distain as she put her glass back down on the table, "Shelke, what exactly are you doing?"

The girl visibly started at the older woman's tone, "I'm doing as you instructed."

"No, you are not. Did I say for you to sit at the table?"

The girl then immediately stood up and quickly lowered her head, "I'm sorry."

Eyeing the girl again, Rosso adjusted her revealing gown one last time and then, dismissed the girl to go off and make sure the kitchen preparations were being done. She then took the autoinjector Shelke left on the table for her and slipped the pen-like syringe into the hidden silk garter around her upper thigh….

* * *

"Hello, how may I help you?" said Shelke with a warm smile to the couple standing in front of her.

"Oh, um we're here with Ms. Crimson?" said Tifa with a smile to the young hostess and Vincent, who stood next to her.

Shelke's smile slightly faltered but immediately changed to a business smile as she scanned the seating plan and grabbed two heavy leather bound menus, "Ah, Ms. Crimson has already arrived, please follow me."

The three of them made their way past several tables seating senators, directors and other famous faces, to the partially secluded yet still obviously visible table with the 180 view of the city. Just as they approached Rosso stood up from her seat and smiled, "Ah, you finally made it."

Rosso then motioned to the table just as Tifa and Vincent walked up the steps to the platform the table was on. Vincent then helped Tifa remove her leather jacket and hung it over one arm while pulling out the plush chair for her to sit on. Smiling warmly, Tifa quietly thanked Vincent after he took a seat from hanging their jackets on the artistically designed coat rack behind them.

While setting down the menus, Shelke then removed the reserved card from the table and said, "Chef Wolfgang Ramsay's recommended entrée tonight is the grilled sirloin steak with scallion mashed potatoes. Our house wine tonight is a 1991 Merlot."

Watching as the young girl left the three of them and their server introduced himself; Rosso glanced between Tifa and Vincent and resisted the urge to smirk. They ordered their drinks and she got a refill of her Pinot Noir. Picking up her glass so that her fingers accidently brushed against Vincent's she then addressed Tifa with a smile, "I highly recommend the baby spinach and almond salad as an appetizer."

Wary of Rosso's intentions, Vincent glanced at Tifa to see if she noticed the touch between then and sighed. He watched as she refocused her attention to the heavy menu in front of her.

"Thank you that sounds good actually." said Tifa with a small smile to Rosso's Cheshire cat smile.

"Here are your drinks, are you ready to order or would you like more time?" said their server with a friendly smile.

Tifa looked at Vincent and Rosso who both looked at her in agreement that they were ready, "Thank you, Um, I'd like the baby spinach and almond salad and tonight's recommended entrée."

The server then turned to Vincent, "And for you sir?"

Vincent then glanced at the menu and said, "My usual, just let Wolfgang know that I'd like less olives."

Nodding understandingly, the server then noted it down on his notepad and turned to Rosso, "And Ma'am, what would you like?"

Rosso smiled, "I'll also have the baby spinach and almond salad, and the roasted Sussex lamb with spinach, garlic roasted new potatoes and port sauce, darling."

Jotting that down, the server pocketed his notepad and pen, then removed the top plate off of each of their settings, "Excellent, I will come back with your salads ladies."

Vincent watched as Rosso took a sip of her wine while eyeing him suggestively, he then cleared his throat and clasped Tifa's left hand with his own on the table.

Rosso noticed the gesture; she then smirked at Vincent who glared at her meaningfully as if challenging her to even try anything.

Turning to him questioningly, Tifa give him a puzzled look, as Vincent was the last person she'd expect to show public displays of affection also she felt like he wasn't acting like his usual self tonight, "Is there something wrong Vincent?"

He then gave her a reassuring smile, "Hmm, oh there's nothing wrong, isn't the view beautiful?" He then gestured to the windows next to him.

Inwardly smirking, Rosso took the opening that Vincent unintentionally made, "How sweet, I hope there isn't any trouble in paradise."

"Sorry…? 'Trouble in paradise'?" said Tifa as she turned back from admiring the view.

Their server came back just in time to place two settings of salad in front of Tifa and Rosso cutting Vincent off from replying.

Once their server left, He then glared at the smirking red head seated in front of him and drank the rest of his wine, "Hardly, so what exactly did you have in mind for this meeting tonight?"

Rosso again gave him that irritating smile, "Oh, I just thought that it would nice to get to know my costars better." Under the white silk tablecloth she slipped off her heel and raised her foot ever so slightly…

Vincent suddenly sat up straighter, jostling the table so hard that Tifa's wine spilled onto her lap.

"Oh dear, darling you should quickly wash that, the wine will stain badly." Rosso then got up from her seat wearing both heels and came around to help blot some of the dripping wine from further falling onto Tifa's now burgundy stained white cocktail dress.

Quickly getting up from her seat, Tifa glanced at Vincent who motioned for her to go clean up. Once Tifa was safely in the women's washroom, Vincent narrowed his eyes at Rosso, who leaned against the table with her arms crossed. "Is there something you want to say?"

Eyeing him with distain, Rosso sighed, "You will never learn will you?"

Vincent stood up but staggered a little, balancing himself with his chair he stood in front of her, "What do you want from me?"

Rosso smiled darkly, "You didn't get the message did you, when I left those photos for you to agonize after."

He then brought his hand to his head rubbing his temples, "What-what message?"

Rolling her eyes, Rosso then examined her nails removing the small piece of lint stuck on one nail, "For you to dump Lockhart, though I don't blame you for being incoherent, cyanide does do that to you."

"Cyanide?" said Vincent suddenly more alert but he staggered toward the table and looked at Tifa's salad covered in almonds, then picked his empty glass of wine and sniffed it.

Again rolling her eyes, she then turned towards the general direction of the washrooms and saw Tifa just leaving; she then pulled out a small pill from the vial that she held in one hand and held it up for him to see, "If you want the antidote you'll just have to leave Lockhart, Vinny darling."

Awkwardly holding his head with one hand and staggering towards her, he made a grab for it but missed. "Never, give me the antidote."

He then watched horrified as she put the pill in her mouth. Without considering the consequences, he did the least drastic thing he could in the situation that he was currently in, he grabbed her shoulders and kissed her but in reality he was trying to get her to push the pill into his mouth. The two of them fought until Vincent forced the two of them onto the table, him on top of her, still fighting for the pill.

Unaware of the audience in front of him, Vincent continued to fight Rosso for the pill, while all the paparazzi swarmed to their table taking photographs of what looked like the two of them making out on the table while Tifa stood there in shock and horror.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rosso noticed Tifa and the paparazzi then carefully pulled out the autoinjector and stabbed Vincent's thigh while pushing the pill into his mouth simultaneously. She then shoved a panting Vincent off of her while stealthily putting the autoinjector back into her garter. Lithely getting off the table and straightening her gown out, she smiled at the paparazzi, and walked off the platform.

Just as she passed the now stunned Tifa Lockhart towards the front entrance of the restaurant, Rosso whispered to her, "…And _now_ you have trouble in paradise, darling."

* * *

_Dear readers, as I warned above, please do not play with cyanide. And yes, cyanide can come from almonds and apple seeds, but it's not toxic in the small amounts that humans eat. I swear I'm not trying to scare you off from eating them. Also Yes, I did combine two celebrity chef's names together, Wolfgang Puck and Gordon Ramsay.  
_

_The title of this chapter is indeed named after the Korean group, SHINee and their song Lucifer from their second album, Lucifer.  
_

_Please spread the word on this fic, I'm dying for some feedback, have I made you hate Rosso enough yet?  
_


	11. Aftermath

_I can't remember the last time I updated on here._

_ I've been extremely busy with real life stuff and designing artwork for a friend's band debut CD in Japan, anywho, you know the drill,_

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

"He is stable for now. He was lucky that he received the antidote in time. You may see him now." said the doctor as he folded the file in his hands.

"Thank you." Tifa smiled at the doctor and quietly walked over to open the door to Vincent's private hospital room.

Flashing back to last night's events, she sighed heavily, the moment Rosso left the restaurant, Tifa immediately rushed over to Vincent's side as he didn't react to her calling of his name as he laid there barely lucid. The ordeal of having to bring Vincent to the hospital while being hounded by the paparazzi trying to get photos of an unconscious Vincent left Tifa wondering if her line of work was really worth the trouble.

She stepped into the pale green hospital room careful as to not wake Vincent, and made her way to the sink in the corner of the room to fill the vase she found. Arranging the white peonies and blue daisies in the vase, she brought the vase filled with the flowers to the bedside table.

Smiling down at his sleeping form, she then recovered Vincent with the blanket that was off by his side. Lightly brushing away a strand of his hair to the side, she calmly sat down on the chair placed next to his bedside.

Noticing him stirring in his sleep, she then wondered what their relationship was. She knew that she loved him, but his actions of late puzzled her. He kept on retreating into himself, not telling her things or he would act completely out of character. The things that were happening around them with Rosso bothered her. She knew that Rosso was someone she should be wary of but after last night's event she now knew that Rosso wanted something and would go to any measure to get it.

Hearing the rustling of sheets, Tifa blinked out of her reverie and glanced at Vincent who slightly shifted his position and mumbled, "…_Tifa_..."

She then smiled warmly and lightly covered his hand with her own. Surprisingly, she felt him grasp her hand in return.

Watching him blink open his eyes and re-orient himself with his location, she was about to reach for the glass of water on his bedside table, when he pulled her towards himself with surprising force and held her tightly in his embrace.

"Whoa, hold on there Vincent, I'm glad to see that you're awake and doing well, but you should get more rest."

He then released her, while raising himself to a sitting position on his bed; he took a better look at his surroundings. "So I'm still here, huh?"

She then was about to slap his upper arm for making such a comment but restrained herself, "Don't say things like that!"

Audibly sighing, Vincent ran a hand through his hair, "I'm sorry, I just-

"She poisoned you didn't she?"

Silently he looked her straight in the eye, "Tifa…."

"Look Vincent, I'm not some delicate woman, I can handle Rosso-

"No, you can't. You don't understand that woman would-

"She would do just about anything to hurt me? To hurt you? Vincent, as much as I appreciate you trying to protect me, I can and will stop Rosso."

Tifa then stood up with the glass of water from his table side and went to the sink to fill it with fresh water and to open up the take-out box that was left on the counter, when she came in.

Vincent sat there in perplexed amusement. On one hand, he was annoyed at how stubborn she was, but on the other hand his pride wouldn't let him forget the fact that it could have been Tifa sitting in his place.

"Tifa, please just be a little more reasonable."

Tifa turned around from placing the cucumber sandwiches that Aerith made onto the paper plates, and scowled, "No, Vincent, you have to tell me these things. You can't just keep everything all bottled up."

Her expression then softened as she took a seat down on the chair next to him, "I love you, you know."

He then took her hand and held it in both of his, "I know."

"So! How about we chow down on these sandwiches before Reno comes and-

"Cucumber sandwiches!"

The two of them turned to the door and saw Reno holding on to at _least_ thirty 'Get Well Soon!" balloons, followed by Sephiroth, Aerith, Cloud and Zack.

The red head was about to make a beeline for the sandwiches but was stopped in his tracks by a smiling Aerith grasping the back of his collar, "_Reno_, those sandwiches are for _Vincent_."

Chuckling softly at Reno who squirmed his way out of Aerith's grasp and was currently inhaling a sandwich, Vincent motioned towards all the balloons, "I hope you paid for all those, unless you mugged the nearest balloon man?"

Chewing with his mouth open, Reno released the balloons in his hand, "Nah, old man Reeve gave 'em to me to give to you."

Sephiroth then stepped forward from chatting with Aerith and gave Vincent a once over, "You could use a shave."

Smirking, Vincent ran a hand over his day old stubble, "I was thinking of a new look, and yes, I'm feeling fine. Thank you for asking."

"You sure you're okay there Vincent?" asked Cloud around the sandwich that he was munching on.

"Cloud, please eat with your mouth closed." said Tifa as she passed him and Reno napkins.

"But food tastes better this way." said Zack with a grin as stuffed one end of his sandwich into his mouth and happily chewed away at the chagrin of both Tifa and Aerith.

Smiling inwardly, Vincent, gave Tifa a smirk and said, "I'm fine Cloud, really. So, Zack, how about you pass over a sandwich so I can test out your theory."

* * *

_On a serious note, it has come to my attention that a certain member on here has taken the liberty of being the "Big Brother" of fan fiction reporting stories that don't meet their requirements via a bot which is against the T.O.S. of fanfiction(dot)net. This uproar in the fan fiction community has affected many and I do sympathize with those who have lost some of their stories/left out of protest for the lack of action the administrators of have done about this issue. As an assurance to my faithful readers, I won't be leaving here yet and I do have all my stories saved on my hard drive. If push comes to shove, and I am forced to ditch then I'll probably be posting my stories on another site, which site I don't know but I'll still have this username. _

_Thanks for reading, please leave a review. _


	12. Proposition

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

Vincent circled around his living room a second time before planting himself onto the beige sofa and then abruptly getting up again when the door phone rang. He quickly made his way over to the phone and picked up the receiver.

"Yes, Nigel?"

"_Sir, the roses that you ordered are here, I have taken the liberty of allowing the__ couriers up."_

"Thank you, Nigel."

Vincent then hung up and walked over to his front door, opening it just a flower courier was about to ring the doorbell. The lanky flower courier's face was obscured by the Chocobo Chargers football cap that he wore, but the mischievous smirk under the cap was unmistakable.

Vincent rolled his eyes and leaned against the doorframe, "So, you deliver flowers now Reno?"

The red head then shoved one of the large buckets containing long stem red roses into Vincent's arms and entered the penthouse without a word. Following the lead, the other flower couriers politely nodded their heads as they passed an amused Vincent.

* * *

By the time the couriers left, Sephiroth, Aerith, Elena, Tseng, Reno and Rude all were seated around the island bar in the kitchen laughing and catching up with each other.

"And you know what he said, '_Ma'am breast feeding is not permitted here._' but his face was as red as the woman's hair!" said Elena laughingly as she waved her glass of wine around while the other's laughed.

"It was not the appropriate place or time for her to be doing that." said a slightly blushing, Tseng with a note of annoyance in his voice.

"Aww, c'mon boss don't be shy." Reno said with a grin between his shot of vodka.

Stepping into his black onyx tiled kitchen, as he rolled up the sleeves of his crisp crimson dress shirt, Vincent looked at the party seated around his island bar, "I don't remember this being a party."

Reno then grimaced at Vincent's annoyed look, "Hey, looking good…we're helping you by—

"—drinking all my vodka?" said an unimpressed Vincent as he began gathering the empty Smirnoff bottles.

Tseng then got up and began helping him, "I apologize for the intrusion, but I have no idea why I was brought here in the first place."

Vincent then glared at Reno who blinked back at him innocently. He then took the various bottles from Tseng's hands and said, "Thank you, I'm sure Reno and Sephiroth here can explain to you and myself, why you're all here."

Reno glanced at Sephiroth, who immediately ignored him and continued chatting with Aerith, "Uh…"

Rolling her eyes, Elena put down her glass of wine and leaned forward eagerly as Vincent turned around from washing his hands. "So a little red-headed birdy told me that you were planning to propose to Tifa."

Again Vincent glared at Reno, who shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the nearly empty glass of vodka in his hands.

"So, is it true?" asked Elena while the others all focused their attention on him.

Slightly unnerved by the stares that he was currently receiving, he sighed audibly and reluctantly pulled out the turquoise Tiffany's box wrapped with a white silk ribbon from his pocket.

Elena eagerly reached out for the box, but Vincent quickly put the box back into his dress pants pocket before she could even touch the ribbon. Visibly pouting Elena sat back down on her seat and drank the rest of her wine down.

Aerith then smiled, "Oh, don't worry Vincent, we didn't tell Tifa. We're only here because Reno said that you could use some help with the roses."

"Yup, that's what I said." Reno then nodded and grinned.

Sephiroth finished his glass of wine and brought it over to the sink, he then placed a hand on Vincent's shoulder, "So, what did you have in mind with the roses?"

* * *

"So how is recording going, Genesis?"

"Give me more time, if you keep sending your man I can't get any work done." said an annoyed Genesis.

The two men seated in the dark corner of the café were left alone at the request of the man in the silver grey suit and white tie. From an outsiders view, the two looked to be an actor and his agent, but it was not the case.

Weiss leaned forward so that his face was in the light, marking his face with menacing shadows, "I gave you enough to start a reunion and a new album for SOLDIER, a year ago, I'd have expected some return of the favor by now. My patience only runs so far."

Genesis adjusted his purple tinted shades and leaned back in his chair, "We're breaking in a new guitarist so just keep your corporate pants on."

"Shinra Entertainment's stock just drastically dropped and right now is a good opportunity for SOLDIER to switch over to Deepground…the offer still stands." Said Weiss as he got up from his seat and buttoned up his silver grey suit jacket and nodded towards the large man in the corner of the café. "I'll give you another month to release something, but after that if you have nothing for me, be aware that what happens after is of no business of mines or of Deepground Entertainment."

Genesis waved at the man's retreating back as he lighted his cigarette and blew a breath of smoke, "Yeah, yeah."

He then picked up his cup of espresso and finished it off with a grimace, "I need a drink."

Throwing down some money onto the table, he slipped on his long red leather jacket and stepped out of the café finishing off his cigarette.

"So this is where you're hiding out?"

Startled that Angeal was waiting for him outside of the café, Genesis coughed heavily after suddenly inhaling too much smoke, "Th-thanks for the warning."

After patting his back, Angeal lead Genesis towards the nearest bar and sat him down in a secluded corner while ordering two beers for them. The older man scrutinized his band mate before questioning him, "What did Weiss want?"

Genesis picked up his beer and took a swing, "It's none of your business."

Frowning, Angeal took a swing of his own beer and sighed, "It's my business if you borrowed money from Weiss again on the context of using it for the band."

Lighting another cigarette, Genesis took a few drags and then leaned back in his chair, "So I borrowed some money, we needed it anyways Shinra wasn't going to give us any more after the last single."

"You could have at least let us known that was what you were doing. Half the time we were going to start recording you went missing."

"Look, I can deal with this okay? I-

Angeal then placed his hand on his shoulder, "Genesis, we were also crushed that Sephiroth decided to leave, but you have to move on."

Genesis then shrugged off Angeal's hand and put out his cigarette and lighted another one, "I'm fine, the money will be no problem. We just have to release LOVELESS out soon."

* * *

_I wonder if there are any people reading this fic . . . . _

_Anyhow, I do apologize for the OOC-ness of Elena, then again she is slightly-more likely-drunk. Also writing Genesis was a lot harder than I thought, I can't get the image of GACKT (his likeness and voice are the basis for Genesis' character design) to be separate from the video game character he plays. Orz_

_Thanks for reading, please review. _


	13. Happily Ever After?

_So I'm **finally** updating, I'm currently in the middle of final exams so studying right now is a priority._

_I'll be out of town starting May until August for my internship so, I doubt there will be much in terms of updates during that time._

_This chapter was written way back in 2010 November or so...I just haven't had a chance to go and review what I wrote/updated + the uploading thing here had problems._

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!~_

* * *

"Cloud, where are you taking me? Did we really have to cut through that forest?" said Tifa as she followed after the dark shadow of Cloud's form.

The two of them were currently making their way to a particular spot along a hillside by moonlight, after a romantic dinner with Vincent at his penthouse; Cloud came and picked her up. Tifa had no idea what brought this surprise dinner and why Vincent insisted that she go out for drinks and coffee with Cloud but not with him, but she was having such a good time that she didn't question it.

"We're almost there." said Cloud with a smile, as he led her to a familiar area.

The moment Tifa stepped out into the clearing she thought she was dreaming. The very same hillside where she bumped into Vincent that night, apologizing for her rudeness was now a romantic oasis. At the base of each of the surrounding trees were lighted white candles of various sizes providing limited illumination. Ahead in the distance was a willow tree draped with strings of little white LED lights, underneath the tree was a tall silhouette of a man. Tifa gasped and turned to Cloud, who suddenly offered her a long stem red rose that had a star-shaped white LED disk light tied on it.

With a brotherly smile, Cloud then pushed Tifa to continue walking towards the man, "Go on."

Holding the rose in one hand, she stopped and turned to hug Cloud, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you. For everything, I mean it."

She was about to walk away when Cloud stopped her, she then looked at him with a puzzled expression, "Cloud?"

He then looked at her with determined eyes and said in a clear voice, so that even the man near the tree could hear, "I…I just wanted to let you know. If he _hurts_ you, he'll have me to deal with."

Before she could respond, he gave her a little shove in the direction of the tree and nodded towards the rose in her hand, "Use the light to find your way through."

Smiling warmly at him, she then turned and began making her way forward. Noticing a small glow in front of her, she found another long stem rose with another star-shaped LED light tied to it. She picked it up and continued forward, collecting the lighted roses as she neared the willow. The closer she got to the willow; she noticed that she was surrounded by red roses.

She picked up the last of the lighted roses and walked forward so that she stood underneath the illuminated willow tree, "Vincent?"

He came around the tree, with a nervous smile on his face, "Tifa."

She then smiled and motioned towards her surroundings, "Did you do this all for me?"

Vincent nodded and gave her a shy smile, "I thought that you could use the surprise."

He then nervously ran a hand through his hair while pulling out a turquoise velvet box from his back pocket with his other, "I also have a question for you."

Finally realizing what all this was for and Cloud's odd announcement earlier, she brought her hand to her mouth as she watched Vincent open the box to reveal the solitaire platinum diamond ring.

Before, he could even ask her, she dropped all the roses she collected and quickly closed the distance between them, hugging him, "Yes! Yes, I will!"

He blinked at her in surprise and pulled back from her embrace, "You will?"

Laughing brightly, Tifa wiped a tear of happiness away and nodded, "Yes, silly, I love you Vincent."

He then closed the distance between them, bringing his hand to cup her face and kissed her deeply. Breaking from the kiss, he leaned his forehead on hers and sighed deeply. Pulling the ring from its velvet cushion, Vincent took her left hand, and pulled off her leather gloves, giving her ring finger a kiss before slipping the ring on.

She then lifted her hand and admired the ring, when suddenly a soft white snowflake landed on her hand. She glanced up and noticed that it was now snowing in early November. Tifa then noticed Vincent's surprised expression as he looked up at all the snow drifting down on them.

"Perfect way to end this evening." said Vincent as he bent and picked up the roses she discarded and gave them to her with a smile.

She then laughed and took the roses he offered and wrapped one arm around his waist as he began leading her towards the view of the bright cityscape, "It fits perfectly, how did you know my size?"

He then let go of her and looked away, "You don't want to know."

She then teasingly shoved him, "C'mon tell me, it can't be that bad."

He then pulled out a silver chain from his pocket, dangling at the end of the chain was a silver ring, "I had to borrow this."

She then laughed and kissed his cheek, "So that's where it went."

Taking back the ring, she motioned for him to help her put it on. He obliged and waited as she brushed her hair aside; fiddling with the small clasp he finally got it open and put it on her.

"Thank you." She said as she touched the ring and smiled up at him.

Kissing the back of her neck as he slid his arms around her waist, he then glanced down at her and asked, "Do you want to go?"

"Yes, it's getting cold." said Tifa as she leaned back into him.

"Alright, let's go warm you up." He then led her back towards the path to his car.

* * *

Taking a sip of vodka, Rosso leaned back on her sofa and sighed. The fire in fireplace next to her crackled warmly. She picked up the folder of various magazine and tabloid clippings and scanned over them. On each clipping was a photo of herself and Vincent in the Verraten restaurant, him on top of her and the two of them apparently making out on top of the table. She picked out a specific clipping and smiled.

Reading out a particular line on the clipping she smirked, "Cheating hearts, Vincent Valentine, Hollywood's newest 'Jesse James'?"

"Hmm, I wouldn't celebrate just yet." said Nero as he glanced at the clipping she placed on the coffee table.

"And why wouldn't I Nero, _darling_?" she purred while picking up her glass of vodka.

Nero put down his glass of water on the coffee table, and pulled out his iphone. He scrolled through the various messages and tapped on the screen. Placing his phone down on the table he pushed it towards her and stood up, "Because, of that."

While Rosso picked up the phone, Nero calmly moved to the chair to the right of Rosso, the chair furthest away from the fireplace.

On the screen was a crystal clear image of Vincent and Tifa from the torso up walking down a boulevard. Vincent had on a black knitted beanie hat, black rectangle framed glasses, and a gray wool tailored peacoat with a knitted black, red and white scarf. Tifa wore a white fur-lined parka with the hood up. His left arm was draped around Tifa's shoulders, she held on to his hand with her left hand.

Rosso took one look at the ring on her finger and threw her glass of vodka into the flames of her fireplace.

* * *

_Reviews would be highly appreciated, though considering how long I took to update, I doubt I deserve any._

_I'll just go back into hiding in the woodwork now._


	14. Stormy Skies

_Finally updating since forever. Currently working on the next chapter. Hopefully I'll get this fic done asap._

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy._

* * *

Tifa sat in the studio listening to the recording with her eyes closed. Seated nearby were two members of SOLDIER waiting anxiously for her opinion. She opened her eyes once the recording finished and took off the headphones. Silently putting them down she turned to the men and grinned, "That was amazing!"

Cloud and Zack turned to each other and grinned while high-fiving each other.

"Looks like this session turned out well." said Angeal from the doorway.

Zack then got up from his seat and gestured for Angeal to come in, "Tifa, this is Angeal Hewley, our drummer. Angeal this is Tifa Lockhart."

Angeal put down the tray of coffee and shook her hand, "It's a pleasure, Cloud talks about you a lot."

"I hope about the good things." said Tifa with a smile towards Cloud who ducked his head sheepishly. "So how's recording going?"

Zack, Angeal, and Cloud all shared a look between them and nervously smiled at Tifa's puzzled smile.

"Should I not have asked?" said a worried Tifa.

"Uh…" Cloud then turned to Angeal who nodded at him, "Well, everything is fine, it's just we're still-

"We're working out some wrinkles, that's all." said Angeal with a forced smile.

While Tifa and Cloud were packing up things in the sound room, Zack pulled Angeal over to the messy table and forced the older man to sit down. He then ran a hand through his unruly black spikes and glanced through the window to the sound room at Tifa and Cloud who were catching up with each other.

Zack then stared down at the older man, "Look, Angeal what is going on with Genesis? Is he still hung up about Sephiroth leaving?"

Angeal picked up a discarded guitar pick on the table and ran a finger over the worn edge. He then glanced at Zack who was earnestly concerned about the band and the situation going on with Sephiroth and Genesis. Putting the pick down he sighed deeply, "I can't say I know all the details but it seems that Genesis has borrowed money from Weiss again."

Slumping down in shock, Zack grasped the table to keep himself from falling over. He blindly grabbed for a chair with his other hand, sat down and buried his face in his hands. After a moment of silence he mumbled out through his hands, "Why?"

Even Angeal didn't know how to answer that question despite knowing this information from Genesis himself. He picked up one of the cups of coffee that he brought and put it next to Zack, "He didn't tell me, but it's something between Sephiroth and him."

"That's not what I'm worried about!" Zack then got up from his seat and began pacing. "Doesn't that idiot remember what happened when he borrowed money from that guy?"

* * *

Cloud watched her gather the empty bottles of water out of the corner of his eye with a smile. They've known each other for longer than he'd like to admit, and seeing her, _this_ happy in such a long time was a nice change. It had been too long since he had a chance to be alone with her since their "break up" a year ago.

"Let's see that ring of yours." said Cloud as he wound up his amp cord.

Tifa put the microphone she was holding back onto the stand and eagerly went over to him with a grin.

Cloud grinned back at her and grasped her hand. He then whistled approvingly, "Did he kill someone for this?"

Tifa rolled her eyes and jokingly glared at his cheeky smirk, "Of course not. It's a Tiffany ring."

A moment of amiable silence passed, when Cloud slightly tightened his grasp on her hand, "…Tifa are-

"_That__'__s __not __what __I__'__m __worried __about!_"

The two of them turned to the open door of the recording room and ran out to find out what Zack was angry about.

"Zack, what's wrong?"

Zack then blew a raspberry and collapsed back into his chair. Ruffling his already mussed up spikes again, he motioned for the two of them to take a seat. He waited till both of them were seated, and took a ragged breath before beginning.

"Genesis borrowed money from Weiss Immaculate again."

Cloud and Tifa both turned towards each other with confusion on their faces. Cloud then turned to Angeal with a raised eyebrow, "He did what?"

Frustrated Zack got up from his chair and began irritably pacing around the studio, "That Idiot borrowed money from Weiss! Deepground Entertainment's head honcho! AGAIN!"

"Whoa, Zack it should be o-"

"Dammit, Cloud! You don't know what it was like before!"

"If you could just explain it to me instead of yelling then I would understand!" said an annoyed Cloud as he got up from his seat.

Zack was about to yell at Cloud when Tifa stood up between the two of them, "Alright, alright! Girls calm down. Zack sit down. I mean it. Both of you. Now Angeal can you please explain."

Slightly struggling to hide his smirk at a pouting Zack, Angeal sat up from his chair and cleared his throat, "Before Sephiroth left, we were struggling with finances since it seemed that Rufus Shinra's father wasn't willing to sign off Shinra Records to print our newest single at the time, Materia."

"It was a risk at the time, the new sound we had was Genesis' idea. He really pushed for it to be released and was desperate enough to borrow money from Immaculate who just started up Deepground Entertainment."

Angeal then picked up a cup of coffee and took a sip before continuing, "It was fine at first the single was selling pretty well, but eventually Immaculate wanted his money back with interest. When Genesis couldn't pay up in time, things took a turn for worse; little did we know that Immaculate was a guy that shouldn't be taken for a fool to run up against the powerhouse of Shinra Entertainment."

Nervous silence completely covered the studio as Angeal leaned back into his chair and mulled things over in his head, while Tifa turned to Cloud and Zack in concern.

* * *

One of the few people that Weiss Immaculate, trusted and worked with, was Azul Cerulean. He had a pretty good life, considering his less than unfavorable childhood. If he hadn't met Weiss and focused his time on turning his weak will and body to what it was now, strong and intimidating at first glance, his life would have been drastically different. Being as he was now, it was obvious that Weiss would hire him as a bodyguard.

As usual per his work schedule as arranged by Weiss, he was about to head to the main Deepground Entertainment offices, when he received an unusual call from Weiss detailing a strange but possible order. And that order was what he was following at this moment, to wait for a phone call and to follow the instructions that were given to him.

"Yes, understood. I'm waiting outside the studio right now."

"_Give __them __a __good __scare._"

Azul Cerulean hung up his phone and turned back to the M60 sitting in a large guitar case in the back seat of his rental car with a smirk.

* * *

"Zack, Cloud, I'll see you two tomorrow?" asked Angeal as the four of them walked out of the glass building of the studio.

Zack and Cloud both silently nodded at Angeal, still not quite talking to each other after the episode inside the recording booth.

Tifa then turned to Angeal and smiled, "I had a great time, I'm sure the album will turn out great. It was nice meeting you."

Angeal was about to reply when the loud squeal of tires was heard, they all turned to see a black rental sedan come barreling down the street. The tinted black window rolled down revealing a ski masked figure and the barrel of a machine gun suddenly opening fire at them as the car sped past.

"GET DOWN!" yelled Angeal as he dove for the ground.

To Tifa the exact moment Angeal yelled, everything seemed to slow down. A muffled yell was heard from her right, Angeal heavily hitting the ground, Zack dropping his ringing phone and shoving Cloud towards her. As she was about to hit the pavement from the force of Cloud's momentum, she watched horrified as the four of them became covered in glass, rubble and ricocheting bullets from the surrounding studio front. Painfully hitting the ground with the side of her head, she tried to raise her head to see the others before blacking out.

* * *

_Yup, so a review or two would be nice. _

_You know for some motivation to finish this fic ;)_

_ Ta~_


	15. Revelations

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

Whistling as he made his way towards the rather seedy and run down looking building, Reno blinked as he stepped through the door, his eyes just adjusting to the change in lighting. Inside was a bar that had an old 40s theme; with the classy chandeliers hanging dusty crystals, the 1946 Wurlitzer 1015 model jukebox in the corner, and the mahogany pool table sitting near the back. The bar man looked oddly out of place in his black waist coat, red bow tie, green tinted shades, and a litany of unusual tribal looking tattoos that ran up both his muscular arms that were visible under his short sleeved white dress shirt he wore. An old Nat "King" Cole song was playing, while several patrons were seated in leather covered booths or tables smoking cigarettes and nursing their drinks.

After some digging and some rather forceful questionings with Rude in the neighborhood about the shooting just two days ago, he received a call from Tseng to meet Cid Highwind. He didn't know what exactly was going on but from his connections with the darker dealings of Hollywood, he knew that something big was happening.

What he didn't expect after just sitting down at the bar was a huge slap on his back, and a deep cheerful voice, in his ear, "RENO!"

Grasping the bar top, Reno turned to his right and sighed once he saw the grinning face of Barret Wallace. "Man, you scared the bejesus out of me. Besides that what the hell are you doing here? I thought I was meeting the Old-

"WHOA"

Shaking his head and sitting up, Reno looked at his broken bar stool, then glared at the blond pilot standing over him, "What the fuck was that for?!"

Cid then snorted and glared at the red head, "Nobody gets away with calling me 'Old Man' to my face." He then turned to the bar man who was calmly wiping a glass tumbler, and nodded at the broken stool, "Sorry, Noah."

Noah put down the tumbler, and glanced over the bar top to survey the damage, "No problem, I've wanted to get new ones anyways." He then motioned to the other bar patrons that things were fine.

Reno then pulled himself together and stood up, "So, why are we meeting in this dump?"

"Oi, punk what did you say?" said Noah as the muscles in his arms bulged slightly.

Visibly blanching, Reno swallowed nervously, "Uh, I mean, why are we meeting in this classy place?"

"That's what I thought. You want anything?" said a friendlier Noah

"The usual for us and this piece of shit will just have some water." said Cid as he pulled Reno over to an empty table.

Once the three of them were seated and a pretty barmaid came by with their drinks, Reno pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "So, why'd you call Barret here too?"

Chuckling, Cid tapped his cigarette on the ash tray and took a drink, "He probably knows more of this shit than me, right?"

Barret leaned forward in his chair and grinned, "Damn right! I didn't start my publicist company for no reason. So what the hell do you want to know man?"

"What's the connection between Rufus Shinra and Weiss Immaculate?"

* * *

The office that Genesis was sitting in looked incredibly sterile and industrial yet it was still tolerable to sit in. While he fidgeted with his rings and adjusted his shades, the young secretary with the metallic copper-orange scarf, who introduced herself as Shelke, continued typing on her computer. He continued to fidget until he couldn't take it any longer and stood up to pace in front of the wall length windows that showed the downtown district of the city as far as the eye could see.

Out of the corner of her eye, Shelke watched the musician fidget and pace around the waiting room. She had a strong urge to comfort the poor man, considering how much she knew of the under the table dealings her employer has. Weighing her opinions, she pushed away from the computer and stood with a warm smile at the musician who stared at her like a deer caught in the headlights with her sudden movement. He looked like he was about to bolt out of the building if she approached him, so she quickly put up a pacifying hand.

"Hey, it's okay."

Wary, he cleared his throat and straightened himself out and in an incredulous tone said, "Excuse me?"

Seeing as he wasn't going anywhere, she went around her desk and stood in front of him and whispered, "Its money problems, isn't it?"

The flicker of worry crossing his eyes gave him away, but he remained silent so she continued, "I'll see what I can do to soften the blow."

He was about to feign confusion when the door opposite from the windows opened, and a tall, well built man in a black pinstriped suit with a metallic blue dress shirt stepped outside and approached the two of them.

"Mr. Rhapsodos, Weiss is ready to see you." growled the man as he walked back into the office.

Genesis swallowed nervously and glanced at the girl for reassurance. She clasped his upper arm and gave a squeeze, before leading him towards the door. "It will be fine."

He nodded, strided confidently to the door and stepped in.

Shelke sighed and returned to her desk, "I'd better start compiling evidence."

* * *

"You're sure you followed Rosso's—Ah, Mr. Rhapsodos, please take a seat." said Weiss pleasantly as he gestured towards the two white leather chairs in front of his desk.

Genesis glanced at the large man from earlier standing to his right.

"Ah, don't mind Azul, he is my right hand and head of security, you can never be too careful in these times." Weiss then gave an amused smile at Genesis and again gestured to the chairs, "please, no need to stand on my account."

"What can I do for you?"

Taking off his sunglasses, Genesis eyed Azul suspiciously then took a seat. Leaning back on his chair, he swallowed hard, "You're in a pleasant mood today."

Smiling enigmatically at Genesis, Weiss walked around his desk and stopped in front of him. Leaning back on his desk, he sighed, "Today is a good day, Shinra Entertainment's stocks have dropped by 50 points since the shocking incident with one of their clients."

Steeling himself for the blowback in what he was about to say, Genesis momentarily frowned. He looked Weiss straight in the eyes as he said the very words he was dreading since coming into the building.

"I need more time."

* * *

The lack of sound coming from the red head was amusing to Cid as he took another drag of his cigarette. The pilot glanced at Barret and smirked at him when he caught the other man's eye.

Reno sat there stunned with the information that Barret had just told him. He muddled over the information, and then took a large sip of water. "So, let me get this straight. Weiss Immaculate is Rufus Shinra's brother?!"

* * *

_Updated because I'm slowly getting back to finishing this. I don't think may people are reading this anymore, but I might as well finish then fic then move on to new stuff._


	16. La Mort

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

"The injury to her head is minor; but once the results of the MRI are out, we'll know for sure if there is any major damage."

Slowly opening her eyes, Tifa blinked as she adjusted to the lighting and glanced around herself, "Wh-Where am I?"

"Please follow the light with your eyes." The doctor then clicked on his penlight and waved it back and forth across her eyes. He then clicked off the light, pocketed it, and wrote a note down on her chart.

Smiling kindly, the doctor then introduced himself, "My name is Doctor Michael Viridis, and I'll be your physician during your stay here. Can you tell me your name and date of birth?"

"Tifa Lockhart. May third."

"Thank you." Again Dr. Viridis made note of this and then turned to Vincent who was standing next to him, "she should be fine. Don't tire her out too much though."

When the doctor left the room, Vincent quickly took a seat next to her bed, "Tifa, are you alright?"

She sat up in her bed before she answered him, "I'm okay, I think. I'm at Midgar Hospital?" He silently nodded at her waiting for her to ask the one question that he didn't want her to ask.

"What happened?"

Audibly sighing, Vincent ran a hand through his hair. Before he could even open his mouth to begin he felt her fingers brush his cheek and tilt his face up so that she could look him straight in the eye.

"Vincent, please just tell me."

He slowly closed his eyes when he saw the concern flitting through her eyes, grasping both her hands he slowly removed the engagement ring from her hand.

"What is the last thing that you remember?"

"Vincent, why did you take my ring?"

"Tifa, please just answer my question."

Frowning, she pulled her hands away from his and rubbed her temple, "We-we were coming out of the studio. Angeal then yelled out and then I was shoved to the ground."

"Is that all you remember?"

"No. No wait. There was a car… someone was shooting at us…" She then gasped and blinked in surprise at the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. "No…Vincent, tell me please!"

"Cloud and Angeal are in stable condition right now."

"…what about Zack?"

Vincent frowned and turned away from her, "he didn't make it. He died on the way here."

* * *

There was complete silence when Weiss frowned and grasped the glass desk he was leaning against. Weiss then stood up and sat down on his black leather chair, "More time…you want more time."

Genesis cringed and fidgeted in his seat as he watched Weiss' expression go from menacing to calm.

"I gave you a year and half. Alright, I'll give you the rest of this year, since you already paid for tardiness."

Genesis sat up in his seat and glanced at Azul then back at Weiss, "I-I paid for my tardiness?"

Weiss then grinned motioned to Azul to hand him the ipad and gave it to Genesis, "Indeed, you have already paid for it just an hour ago."

Grabbing the ipad, Genesis' eyes widened as he read the headline, '_Bassist, Zack Fair Died in Tragic Shooting_'

"No."

"Yes, now haven't you learned the first time you borrowed money from me. I expect double the amount by the end of this year." Said Weiss, as he motioned for Azul to open his office door.

Genesis then dropped the ipad and quickly ran out the door.

* * *

Vincent fiddled with Tifa's engagement ring then pocketed it. Standing up he kissed her forehead as she fell asleep from crying so much. He knew when she woke up she'd notice that the ring was gone. He knew that she would be devastated but he just hoped she'd understand why he was breaking things from her.

Stepping into the hospital hallway, he quickly headed towards his car while dialing Reno's number.

"Tell me everything you know."

Leaning back in his chair, Reno cracked his knuckles, "Where do you want to start? There's a lot of history to go through."

"How about we start with Shinra's connection with Immaculate's" said Sephiroth as he took off his blazer and took a seat at the table.

"Man, how did you hear me from that far?"

"Well, Reno have you considered that you should stop projecting your voice." Smirked Sephiroth as he poured himself a glass of water.

"Guys, get back on track, Reno spit it out."

"Hey, Vincent relax okay."

Glaring at the red-head, Vincent pulled out the Tifa's engagement ring from his pocket and put it on the table. This sobered Reno immediately.

Worriedly glancing at his best friend, Sephiroth poured a glass of whisky and placed it in front of Vincent, "Drink."

Doing as ordered, he took the glass and drank it all.

Sitting up in his chair, Reno took Sephiroth's glass of water and drank a sip, "Back in the day, Old Man Shinra, was struggling to have an heir to his empire. So he adopted a boy named Weiss Immaculate. All things were well, and then Rufus was born. At first everyone assumed both boys would be getting equal share in Shinra Entertainment."

"It wasn't until, three years ago that another Will was found, and that shifted all property to Rufus." Continued Sephiroth.

Reno then glanced at him confusedly. Sephiroth shrugged, "I was part of the overseeing team that ensured the Will was legally binding."

Running his hands through his hair, Vincent sighed, "So you're saying that all this has been a feud between brothers? All this time, Rosso was aiming to cause bad press for Shinra while Immaculate made his bid for a takeover of Shinra Entertainment?"

Standing up Vincent began pacing the room, "Immaculate wouldn't resort to murder would he?"

Glancing between Sephiroth and Reno, and seeing their frowning faces, Vincent knew what their answer would be. He knew that he made the right decision to break things with Tifa; this was getting even worse than he thought.

"Reno give me Rosso's number."

"Vince, what are you planning?"

"Reno, just give me the damn number."

Sephiroth then stood up and placed a hand on Vincent's shoulder, "Let me talk to her first. She needs to know that she is playing with fire."

* * *

_La Mort, the title of this chapter means 'Death' in French._

_Also Viridis is 'Green' in Latin. Just thought I'd let you know._

_I'm going to finish this fic off pretty soon I hope..._


	17. Red Sunset

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

Stepping out of her Red Corvette, Rosso glanced around her surroundings and smiled beguilingly at the men who eyed her. She then glanced up at the business tower she just parked in front of. High on the 40th floor of the Rufus Shinra Business tower was the office of Sephiroth Crescent of Crescent and Associates. She made her way towards the security desk of the building, her high stiletto heels clicking ominously on the onyx tiled lobby. By the time she made it up to the offices of Crescent and Associates, Sephiroth was waiting for her at his office door. His office was clean and currently colored blood red from the sun setting through the glass balcony windows.

"Please take a seat."

Rosso smiled genially at the silver haired lawyer, and took a seat. She watched him remove his glasses, and then pick up his desk phone.

"Doris please hold any calls and clients for the next hour please."

Sephiroth eyed the woman sitting across from him and noticed that she was staring at the large and very long Nodachi sword hanging on the wall behind him.

"Masamune."

Rosso's eyes widened in confusion, "Sorry, darling?"

Sephiroth turned to the sword and motioned with a hand, "The sword, is called Masamune."

"Oh, is that so darling…do you know how to wield it?" said Rosso with a flirtatious smirk.

Chuckling, Sephiroth nodded. He then stood up from his chair and pointed to his drinks table.

"No thank you."

Turning around, Sephiroth leaned against his office wall and crossed his arms, "You're playing with fire."

"You don't know what you're dealing with." Said Rosso as she got up from her seat and then approached him with a clear intent to dominate this conversation.

"We already know Immaculate is behind all this."

Rosso stood in front of Sephiroth and tugged his tie out from under his waistcoat; she leaned forward so that her red lips were just barely touching his, "Where is your proof, darling?"

Without blinking an eye, Sephiroth calmly removed her hands from his tie, "You're here talking about this is proof enough."

Rosso stepped back towards the balcony windows and laughed, "I see, clearly someone is giving you information."

Suddenly Sephiroth's door burst open, with Vincent standing in the doorway with a crumpled piece of paper in his hands.

Rosso smirked as she watched Vincent walk into the office and close the door. She pulled a cigarette from her purse and lit it. Blowing out a stream of smoke, she stood expectantly for Vincent to speak.

"Well darling, what are you waiting for?"

Vincent glared at the woman then turned to Sephiroth, "Why didn't you tell me you were meeting her here?"

Audibly sighing, Sephiroth ran a hand through his hair then glanced between Vincent and Rosso, "This is going to turn out bad."

Vincent then approached Rosso, the rage just barely controlled in his voice as he flattened out the sheet of paper in his hands, "You ordered the hit on Zack Fair."

Not even flinching at Vincent, she gave him a sad smile then ran out to the balcony and vaulted over so that she was standing on the other side of the balcony railing. Both men raced after her and stopped just before the balcony door.

"Rosso get back in here!" yelled Sephiroth over the wind.

Vincent then reached out a hand, "Rosso, just come back in."

Yelling over the wind, Rosso used a hand to brush her hair from her face, "I'll never let you get me."

She then let both her hands go from the balcony railing.

* * *

"Aerith, Elena, what are you two doing here?"

Aerith gave Tifa a weak smile and was lead into the hospital room by Elena. Elena rushed over to pull a chair out for Aerith, and quickly lead her friend to sit in the chair.

Elena then sat down on Tifa's bed, "Tifa, we had to visit."

"But, Aerith…I-I'm so sorry."

Tifa then grasped Aerith's trembling hands, as the three of them had tears streaming down their faces.

"I-I was calling him."

Aerith dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and continued, "I heard the gun fire through the phone…"

Tifa then squeezed Aerith's hands in both of hers, "Aerith you don't need to talk about this if you don't want-

"Just let me say it!" said Aerith as she abruptly ripped her hands away from Tifa's and knocked over the chair she was just sitting in.

Complete silence fell as the three women looked at each other. Aerith then righted the chair and sat back down again, "I was calling him to tell him that I was pregnant."

Tifa's eyes widened in shock as Aerith sobbed into the hospital bed sheets. She then leaned forward and hugged her best friend.

* * *

_Yeah... will update again soon hopefully._


	18. Seven Devils

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

Flipping through the channels on the TV, Vincent sighed heavily. It had been three months since the arrest of Weiss Immaculate and the closing of Immaculate Entertainment. The whole Immaculate revenge on Shinra was over with the help of Shelke and her access to all the company files. The young secretary was now working at Shinra Entertainment. Aerith was slowly getting back to her cheerful self and things were going back to the usual routine. Everything was going fine for the New Year, except for Vincent. He hadn't been back at his penthouse since Zack's funeral, to avoid seeing Tifa. Currently staying at Sephiroth's place, he went to work as usual but without the passion he usually had. He left his fiancé, he lost one of his good friends, and he was the broken shell of a man after the hell Rosso had put him through. He picked up the bottle of whiskey and took a swing.

Frowning deeply, Sephiroth watched as Vincent drank away his miseries, he was disgusted at how his best friend was destroying himself.

"Vincent, just go and talk to Tifa."

Vincent glanced up at Sephiroth and sighed, "We've been through this already. She'll never want to talk to me again."

Sephiroth then grabbed the bottle from Vincent before he could take another swing, "If you really love her you would get her back."

Vincent then sat up on the couch, "You're right! I'll talk to her in my next life."

Vincent then grabbed the bottle back from Sephiroth and finished it off.

* * *

"Tifa, are you alright?" asked Cloud tentatively from the island bar, as he watched her hammer the steak on the table with more force than necessary.

"Hmm, I'm good Cloud."

Cloud glanced at Aerith and Reno sitting at the across from him, in which Reno shrugged and Aerith gave a knowing smile.

"Um, Tifa how about you rest and I'll finish off dinner…okay?" Aerith then took the meat mallet from her hands and placed a reassuring hand on her.

Tifa sighed and nodded. She then washed her hands and took a seat next to Cloud. He poured her a generous glass of red wine and waited for her to relax a little before he attempted to help her figure out her dilemma.

Blowing some stray strands of hair from her face, Tifa took a generous sip of wine and leaned forward so that she was face down on the island bar counter.

Cloud then leaned toward Tifa as she muttered something into the counter, "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Ugh, why won't that idiot talk to me?"

Chuckling Reno popped an olive in his mouth, "He's being his moody self, babe."

Sitting up Tifa took another drink and leaned against Cloud, "Why are you men so stubborn?"

"Uh, well…."

Reno then shook his head at Cloud to not answer but it was too late. Tifa sat up and looked at Cloud expectantly for an answer. He gave Reno a panicked look and glanced towards Aerith who smiled back at him nonchalantly.

"W-well…."

"Oh never mind, if that big idiot isn't going to talk to me then I'll just have to talk to him." Tifa then stood up and picked up her bag and jacket.

"What about dinner?"

She smiled and buttoned up her jacket, "Make another setting, I'm bringing him back."

When she left, Cloud relaxed and Reno patted his shoulder, "That was close, man."

Aerith then turned to the two men and smiled, "So Cloud, why are men so stubborn?"

* * *

"Vincent, open the door!"

Sephiroth glanced up from his paperwork and looked expectantly at Vincent who stared back at him. He motioned with his head to open the door, Vincent then stood and walked past the door and stepped outside onto the snow covered balcony. Rolling his eyes, Sephiroth went to answer it.

"Vin- oh, Seph where is he?"

"Try the balcony."

Tifa stepped into the room and made straight for the balcony. She stopped just before the threshold and watched him on his own. Gaunt and hollowed were his eyes and he was thinner than he usually was yet still athletically thin. There was also this new darkness in him that seemed to make him even more mysterious than usual. His hair was almost at the length of when she first met him but haphazardly tied back with a rubber band. He was leaning against the balcony railing smoking a cigarette and drinking from a half empty bottle of Guinness. The moment her shoes crunched on the snow he finished off the bottle, put it on the ground and was about to step past her when she stopped him.

"Vincent…."

Under her hand, she felt him tremble from her touch. She immediately moved her hand but he didn't move away from her. She looked up at him uncertainly, trying to read all the emotions in his eyes.

He didn't know what to do, seeing her for the first time in months. She was like the sun, glowing and warm in front of him. He wanted to brush that stray piece of rogue hair from her face, yet he knew that the moment he did, he'd have to rip himself away from her.

Again she attempted to speak, but she couldn't think of anything that was the right thing to say to bring him back. So she reached up and brushed some of his hair from his face. She was about to cup his face when he moved his head away.

"Just go. You deserve better."

She then slapped him, "I deserve better!? After all this time you still believe that!"

He gritted his teeth against the pain on his cheek then dropped his cigarette in the snow, "Do you know how much danger I put you in! I'm dangerous Tifa! You could have died!"

"Immaculate is done! Rosso is gone. The danger is gone! Don't you understand that I need you back?!" Tears began filling her eyes as she tried to reason with Vincent.

He frowned and ran his hand through his hair; he then cupped her face with his hands, "It will happen again; I can't put you in that situation again. I won't."

He leaned his forehead against hers, his lips just mere inches from hers. He then closed the distance between them and kissed her passionately. Her arms snaked around his shoulders, his arms circled around her waist as he pulled her closer.

Breaking away, he carefully removed her arms from his shoulders, and then brushed that rogue piece of hair from her face, "Goodbye."

He then turned away from her and left her crying silently on her own as snow began falling around her.

* * *

_I think I'll end this fic here. Honestly I had no idea what I was planning for this fic anyways._

_If you want a different ending then leave a review, I may be tempted to change the end. (I'll leave this fic as ongoing for now.) _

_The title of this chapter comes from the song: Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine, I was listening to that song as I wrote this chapter. Excellent song._


	19. In the Shadow of Your Heart

_Thought back on my fics and realized that the last chapter was rather disappointing. _

_So here, have an epilogue._

_Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

Quickly packing his clothes, Vincent every so often would glance at the clock on the nightstand; he was trying to get all his things before Tifa came back from work. Every so often he'd find an item of Tifa's and he'd smile then frown, knowing that he shouldn't be thinking about her. He was just about to open the front door to leave when it opened and he was greeted with the very woman he didn't want to see.

Inwardly cursing himself, he nodded a silent greeting then side stepped around her. She then blocked his escape by grabbing his arm and twisting it so he dropped his bags. Suddenly he spun around catching her by surprise, she lost her grip and accidently hit the lights to a dim setting, but then managed to pin him between the wall and herself.

The both of them were breathing heavily from the sudden movement. Staring into each other's eyes and the proximity between then neither backed away. They both felt the electricity in the air; just a single movement from either of them would either break or seal the moment.

He felt her pulse under his hand; the rhythmic pounding mesmerized him as she stared into her wine colored eyes.

She felt his heartbeat under her hand, pounding heavily she knew he still had feelings for her, before she could react; he captured her lips and had her against the opposite wall.

He was about to pull away from her, but she pulled his head down and kissed him deeply again and struggled to remove his jacket off. He fought briefly with his jacket as he removed it and kissed a warm trail down her neck. She nipped at his lips as he helped her remove her fleece jacket. Moving her hands down to his jeans, she fiddled with his belt then stopped as he suckled on a sensitive spot under her ear. She then slipped her hands down and he groaned deeply and pressed her against the wall trapping her there. Pulling off his shirt, she pulled him closer as he lifted her up and pressed her back against the wall as he captured her lips again….

* * *

Trailing lazy patterns on his chest as he lay asleep next to her, Tifa smiled as she saw his eyes flicker open. She watched as he frowned then propped himself up on the bed. She could tell he was struggling with himself; she covered her hand on top of his then brought their hands to rest on his chest over his heart.

"Is this not what you want?"

Vincent turned to her and gave her a sad smile, "I cannot give you everything."

Tifa brushed some of his stray hair away from his face and smiled, "I don't want everything. I just want you."

He then suddenly got up from the bed and left the bedroom. The tears that Tifa was holding back came down as she curled into a fetal position, she was about to cry out her pain when she suddenly felt a weight on the bed and sat up.

Vincent smiled warmly and brushed her tears away, "Then you can have me."

He then put a familiar ring back on her hand.

_Fin._

* * *

_Thank you to all who reviewed! _

_I think I'm going to stay away from writing sequels...incredibly difficult to write and I honestly don't think this fic is as good as the original Reel Life._

_Title of the Epilogue was inspired by Florence + the Machine's Cosmic Love as I was writing this._


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